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 European Yearbook
of International
Economic Law
Katia Fach Gómez
Editor

Special Issue:
Private Actors in International
Investment Law

123
European Yearbook of International
Economic Law

Special Issue

Series Editors
Marc Bungenberg, Saarbrücken, Germany
Markus Krajewski, Erlangen, Germany
Christian J. Tams, Glasgow, UK
Jörg Philipp Terhechte, Lüneburg, Germany
Andreas R. Ziegler, Lausanne, Switzerland
The European Yearbook of International Economic Law (EYIEL) is an annual
publication in International Economic Law, a field increasingly emancipating itself
from Public International Law scholarship and evolving into a fully-fledged aca-
demic discipline in its own right. With the yearbook, the editors and publisher intend
to make a significant contribution to the development of this “new” discipline and
provide an international reference source of the highest possible quality. The EYIEL
covers all areas of IEL, in particular WTO Law, External Trade Law for major
trading countries, important Regional Economic Integration agreements, Interna-
tional Competition Law, International Investment Regulation, International Mone-
tary Law, International Intellectual Property Protection and International Tax Law.
In addition to the regular annual volumes, EYIEL Special Issues routinely address
specific current topics in International Economic Law.

More information about this subseries at http://www.springer.com/series/8848

Katia Fach Gómez
Editor

Private Actors in International

Investment Law
Editor
Katia Fach Gómez
University of Zaragoza
Zaragoza, Spain

ISSN 2364-8392 ISSN 2364-8406 (electronic)

European Yearbook of International Economic Law
ISSN 2510-6880 ISSN 2510-6899 (electronic)
Special Issue
ISBN 978-3-030-48392-0 ISBN 978-3-030-48393-7 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48393-7

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Contents

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Katia Fach Gómez
Stakeholders of Investment Arbitration: Establishing a Dialogue
Among Arbitrators, States, Investors, Academics and Other
Actors in International Investment Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Paolo Vargiu
Investment Arbitration Counsel’s Role in the Progressive
Development of International Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Elie Kleiman, Charles T. Kotuby Jr., and Iris Sauvagnac
Some Thoughts on the Independence of Party-Appointed
Expert in International Arbitration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Sébastien Manciaux
The Nationality of Natural and Juridical Persons in International
Investment Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Carlo de Stefano
Risk Assessment and Third-Party Funding in Investment Arbitration . . . 81
María Beatriz Burghetto
Third-Party Funding and Access to Justice in Investment Arbitration:
Security for Costs as a Provisional Measure or a Standalone
Procedural Category in the Newest Developments in International
Investment Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
José Ángel Rueda-García
A Quantum Expert’s Perspective on Third-Party Funding . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Richard E. Walck

v
vi Contents

Gatekeeping, Lawmaking, and Rulemaking: Lessons from

Third-Party Funding in Investment Arbitration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Ina C. Popova and Katherine R. Seifert
Towards a Republicanisation of International Investment Law?:
Conceptualising the Legitimatory Value of Public Participation
in the Negotiation and Enforcement of International Investment
Agreements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Karsten Nowrot and Emily Sipiorski
Non-Disputing Parties’ Rights in Investor-State Dispute Settlement:
The Application of the Monetary Gold Principle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Alvaro Galindo and Ahmed Elsisi
Media Wars: Transparency and Aggravation in International
Investment Arbitration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Alina Papanastasiou
Empirically Mapping Investment Arbitration Scholarship:
Networks, Authorities, and the Research Front . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Niccolò Ridi and Thomas Schultz
Introduction

Katia Fach Gómez

This edited volume published by Springer brings together a selection of peer-

reviewed chapters that were presented and discussed at the International Colloquium
on “Actors in International Investment Law: Beyond Claimants, Respondents and
Arbitrators”. The Colloquium took place at the University Paris II Panthéon-Assas
on the 26th and 27th of September 2019 and was hosted by Catharine Titi. The call
for papers of this colloquium noted the fact that traditional studies of actors in
international investment law have tended to focus principally on arbitrators, claimant
investors and respondent states, leaving a number of other seminal actors outside the
main scope of this field of law, a view that was duly reaffirmed as the event unfolded.
The book’s purpose is to redress this imbalance by critically reviewing some of
the private actors in international investment law that typically remain outside the
spotlight. While the role played by private actors such as lawyers, experts, funders,
citizens, NGOs, amicus curiae, non-disputing parties, media, and scholars in shap-
ing contemporary international investment law is specifically explored in this vol-
ume, stock is also taken of recent arbitral practice and scholarly contributions to
reflect on present and future synergies among these private actors. The book also
argues that the highly sophisticated area of international investment law is a suitable
testing ground to show the increasing level of interaction between private and
public law.
There is, moreover, a direct connection with two other volumes published by
Springer: Public Actors in International Investment Law (edited by Catharine Titi)
and Transnational Actors in International Investment Law (edited by Anastasios
Gourgourinis). These three books not only aim to make a relevant academic contri-
bution to the aforementioned fields, but also to promote a scholarly discussion that
lays the foundations for future legal debates on international investment law.

K. Fach Gómez (*)

University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 1

K. Fach Gómez (ed.), Private Actors in International Investment Law, European
Yearbook of International Economic Law,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48393-7_1
2 K. Fach Gómez

This book opens with a chapter by Paolo Vargiu entitled “Stakeholders of

Investment Arbitration: establishing a dialogue among arbitrators, states, investors,
academics and other actors in international investment law”. The author argues that
the duties of investment arbitral tribunals are not limited to merely addressing the
questions posed to them by the parties, as they also deal with matters for a much
broader audience with a palpable interest in the interpreting and applying of invest-
ment treaties and how international investment law is developed. The chapter aims to
frame the role and functions of investment arbitrators vis-à-vis stakeholders other
than the claimants and respondent. The analysis addresses ways in which such roles
and functions can be theorised in isolation from formalistic approaches to investment
arbitration that would call for positive actions, and in light of existing multilateral
approaches that have contributed to the development of the international investment
law field.
Elie Kleiman, Charles T. Kotuby and Iris Sauvagnac have co-authored a chapter
on the “Investment arbitration counsel’s role in the progressive development of
international law”. The authors contend that private actors and their respective
counsels have a sizeable effect on the progressive development of international
investment law. The chapter stresses that international jurisprudence is contingent
on the broad variety of ways in which counsels assist arbitral tribunals to reach well-
researched and well-reasoned decisions, which eventually contribute to the devel-
opment of a more reliable jurisprudence constante in this area of law.
Sébastien Manciaux’s chapter offers “Some thoughts on the Independence of
Party-Appointed Expert in International Arbitration”. The author reflects on the main
characteristics and potential shortfalls of some key rules that require party-appointed
experts in the investment arbitration milieu to be independent.
Carlo de Stefano reflects on “The Nationality of Natural and Juridical Persons in
International Investment Law”. De Stefano addresses the role of the investor’s home
state as negotiator and drafter of its international investment agreements with regard
to the definition of “national” applicable both to individuals and corporations. After
dealing with some questionable phenomena such as treaty shopping, the author
provides various types of treaty provisions that states can stipulate when negotiating
or renegotiating their international investment agreements with a view to appropri-
ately accommodating the policy concerns raised throughout this chapter.
In a chapter entitled “Risk assessment and third-party funding in investment
arbitration”, María Beatriz Burghetto uses the practitioner’s standpoint to explore
the main case- and context-related risks assessed by third-party funders in invest-
ment arbitration claims. The chapter aims to provide a useful tool for counsels when
presenting their clients’ funding applications to third-party funders, thus enabling
them to acquire a better understanding of third-party funders’ stances and to be better
equipped to interact with them and represent their clients’ interests.
José Ángel Rueda-García’s chapter addresses the topic of “Third-party funding
and access to justice in investment arbitration: security for costs as a provisional
measure or a standalone procedural category in the newest developments in inter-
national investment law”. He claims that third-party funding can be viewed as a tool
to allow the parties in an investment dispute to exercise their fundamental right to
Introduction 3

access to justice by having access to investment arbitration. The author argues that
arbitral tribunals should take this proposition into consideration when dealing with
requests to post security for costs in investment arbitration if the request arises from
the fact that one party is relying on third-party funding. The chapter also examines a
recent trend to treat security for costs as a standalone, independent from the
procedural category of provisional measures.
Richard E. Walck’s chapter provides “A Quantum Expert’s Perspective on Third-
Party Funding”. Walck reflects on the policy debate surrounding third-party funding
in the context of investor-state dispute settlement. The author also focuses his
attention on the International Council for Commercial Arbitration–Queen Mary
Task Force on Third-Party Funding, which has begun the process of identifying
and assessing these competing interests and has suggested a number of best practices
on the basis of its work.
The chapter co-authored by Ina C. Popova & Katherine R. Seifert and entitled
“Gatekeeping, lawmaking, and rulemaking: lessons from third-party funding in
investment arbitration” develops an empirical analysis to determine how third-
party funders fit into the traditional framework of investment disputes. As a result
of their study the authors perceive an inclination among the international arbitration
community to embrace, rather than prohibit, the involvement of third-party funders
in investor-state proceedings.
Karsten Nowrot and Emily Sipiorski co-sign a chapter entitled “Towards a
Republicanisation of International Investment Law? Conceptualising the
Legitimatory Value of Public Participation in the Negotiation and Enforcement of
International Investment Agreements”. The authors take a closer analytical look at
the increasing and increasingly more formalised opportunities for interested citizens
and other private actors to become actively involved in the preparation, negotiation
and subsequent enforcement of international investment agreements. The chapter
furthermore presents some thoughts on the usefulness and validity of a broader claim
towards a republicanisation of international investment law as a normative ordering
and guiding idea for conceptualising current trends in international investment
law-making, as well as for the future evolution of this area of international
economic law.
Alvaro Galindo and Ahmed Elsisi’s chapter “Non-Disputing Parties’ Rights in
Investor-State Dispute Settlement: The Application of the Monetary Gold Principle”
makes a case for the distinction between the procedure for intervening in investment
arbitration claims as a disputing party and participating as amicus curiae. The
authors consider amicus participation likely to be an inadequate procedural tool to
cover non-disputing parties’ rights, as it is granted at the tribunal’s discretion and the
standards applied are unclear and difficult to meet.
Alina Papanastasiou’s chapter on “Media Wars: Transparency and Aggravation
in International Investment Arbitration” reflects on the role that the media can play in
an on-going investment arbitration “war”. It also discusses different facets and forms
of press involvement in this context, as well as possible limitations.
The book’s final chapter, “Empirically Mapping Investment Arbitration Scholar-
ship: Networks, Authorities, and the Research Front”, has been written by Niccolò
4 K. Fach Gómez

Ridi and Thomas Schultz and provides a large-scale analysis of investment arbitra-
tion scholarship. The authors combine theoretical insights and empirical big data
analysis to map the field, its actors and dynamics with a view to revealing latent
patterns, not only through citations, topics, and publication dynamics, but also
tribunals’ own use of literature.
I wish to conclude this brief introduction by expressing my heartfelt thanks to the
eighteen authors from ten countries around the world whose valuable work makes up
this book. Thank you for joining this scientific project and for staying involved in it,
even in these uncertain times of coronavirus. The fact that all the contributors not
only submitted their well-thought out chapters on time but also endeavoured to
complete the editing review process speedily is greatly appreciated. In the hope of
holding more face-to-face conferences on international investment law in the near
future, I have no doubt that readers will enjoy the intellectual fruits of the highly
successful Paris II Panthéon-Assas conference.

Katia Fach Gómez is tenured Lectured (Profesora Titular) of Private International Law at the
University of Zaragoza (Spain). She was Adjunct Professor at Fordham University (New York),
Visiting Scholar at Columbia Law School (New York) and Senior Humboldt Scholar in various
German research institutions. Katia has also lectured at numerous European and Latin American
Universities. She holds a European PhD summa cum laude from the University of Zaragoza, and an
LLM summa cum laude (prize Edward J. Hawk) from Fordham University. Katia is the author of
numerous monographs, book chapters and articles on international economic law, international
arbitration, international mediation, private international law, and comparative law. Katia has also
been involved in diverse international litigation and arbitration cases in the USA and Europe, and
acts frequently as independent arbitrator or mediator in international and internal controversies. In
2020, she has been designated by the Kingdom of Spain as conciliator to the conciliators’ list of the
International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).
Stakeholders of Investment Arbitration:
Establishing a Dialogue Among Arbitrators,
States, Investors, Academics and Other
Actors in International Investment Law

Paolo Vargiu

Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2 The Formal Duties of Investment Arbitrators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3 Arbitrators and Their Role in the Context of the Investment Arbitral Regime . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
4 Arbitrators and the Stakeholders of Investment Arbitration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
5 Concluding Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Abstract It is generally accepted that any arbitral award extends its effects solely on
the parties to the dispute in which is rendered. In light of this, and the lack of either a
system of precedent or a jurisprudence constante, investment arbitral awards should
be considered as operating in a vacuum, outside of which the award and its
substantive content are non-existent. However, the investment arbitral regime has
over the years developed a de facto precedent system; moreover, the scholarship on
investment arbitration addresses virtually all questions of investment law consider-
ing how such questions have been answered to by arbitral tribunals. Therefore, it is
arguable that the duties of investment arbitral tribunals are not limited to merely
addressing the questions posed to them by the parties, as they address matters for a
much broader audience than the parties—an audience that includes other states,
current and prospective investors, academics, NGOs and associations, and the
taxpayers of each state acting as respondent before an arbitral tribunal. All these
subjects are stakeholders of investment arbitration, as they all have a tangible interest
in how investment treaties are interpreted and applied, and how international invest-
ment law is developed. There is, however, no international law instrument vesting
investment tribunals with the responsibility to take all these concerns into account
when deciding on a claim brought by an investor. This chapter is therefore aimed at
framing the role and functions of investment arbitrators with regard to stakeholders

P. Vargiu (*)
University of Leicester Law School, Leicester, UK
e-mail: [email protected]

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 5

K. Fach Gómez (ed.), Private Actors in International Investment Law, European
Yearbook of International Economic Law,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48393-7_2
6 P. Vargiu

beyond claimants and respondent. The analysis addresses how such roles and
functions can be theorised in isolation from formalistic approaches to investment
arbitration that would call for positive actions, and in light of existing multilateral
approaches that have contributed to the development of the field of international
investment law.

1 Introduction

Any arbitral award extends its effects solely on the parties to the dispute in which is
rendered. This generally accepted principle of international arbitration (also explic-
itly stated in the ICSID Convention),1 together with the lack of either a system of
precedent or a jurisprudence constante in investment arbitration,2 leads to the
conclusion that investment arbitral awards should be considered as operating in a
vacuum, outside of which each award and its substantive content are non-existent. A
thorough look at the practice of investment arbitration, however, leads to question
the validity of such conclusion. The investment arbitral regime has developed, over
the years, a de facto precedent system through the constant reference, by arbitral
tribunals, to earlier awards and decisions.3 Moreover, the scholarship on investment
arbitration—which contributes to the development of investment law through the
participation of academics in investment tribunals as well as the reference to
scholarship by such tribunals4—addresses virtually all questions of investment law
considering how such questions have been answered to by arbitral tribunals. The
duties of investment arbitral tribunals, therefore, are hardly limited to merely
addressing the questions posed to them by the parties.5 It is also arguable that the
inclusion of the reasoning behind their answers is not simply due to the requirements
of the various applicable instruments governing the enforcement of arbitral awards.

1
See e.g. Article 53 of the Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes Between States and
Nationals of Other States (International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes [ICSID])
575 UNTS 159; Article 46 of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (SCC) Arbitration Rules,
available at https://sccinstitute.com/media/293614/arbitration_rules_eng_17_web.pdf; Article 35 of
the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Arbitration Rules, available at https://iccwbo.org/
dispute-resolution-services/arbitration/rules-of-arbitration/; Article 34 of the UNCITRAL Arbitra-
tion Rules, UN Doc A/31/98, 31st Session Supp No 17, available at https://uncitral.un.org/sites/
uncitral.un.org/files/media-documents/uncitral/en/uncitral-arbitration-rules-2013-e.pdf.
2
Gaillard and Banifatemi (2016), p. 104; Bjorklund (2008), p. 266; Vargiu (2009), p. 757;
Kaufmann-Kohler (2007), p. 358; Schreuer and Weiniger (2008), p. 1189.
3
See a.o. Brower et al. (2009), p. 843; Kaufmann-Kohler (2007), p. 357; Ten Cate (2013), p. 418;
Douglas (2010), p. 104; Reed (2010), p. 95; Gill (2010), p. 87; Paulsson (2010), p. 699; Commis-
sion J (2007), p. 129.
4
See a.o. Böckstiegel (2012), p. 581; Schreuer et al. (2009), p. 626.
5
See e.g. Article 48(3) of the ICSID Convention; Article 41 of the SCC Arbitration Rules; Article
32 of the ICC Arbitration Rules; Article 34 of the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules.
Stakeholders of Investment Arbitration: Establishing a Dialogue Among. . . 7

In fact, investment tribunals address questions, and state reasons, for a much broader
audience than the parties. Such an audience includes other states involved in
investment relationships with foreign investors, investors that may at any point file
a claim before an investment arbitral tribunal, scholars who analyse the case-law and
teach the next generation of investment lawyers, NGOs and associations interested
in the subject matter of the cases, and the taxpayers of each state acting as respondent
before an arbitral tribunal. All these subjects fall within the broad definition of
“stakeholders of investment arbitration”, as they all have a tangible interest in how
investment treaties are interpreted and applied, and how international investment law
is developed.6 There is, however, no international law instrument formally vesting
investment arbitral tribunals with the responsibility to take all these concerns into
account when deciding on a claim brought by an investor. It is, indeed, exceptionally
rare that international tribunals are expressly required to consider, when deciding on
a case, the interest of stakeholders with no direct interest in such case;7 and it is
doubtful whether any instruments of soft-law may formally establish such duty upon
arbitral tribunals.
Nevertheless, an argument can be made that, even in absence of multilateral
instruments extending the duties of arbitrators beyond the particular dispute they are
appointed to hear, such duties exist, and should indeed be fulfilled. International
investment law and international investment arbitration are commonly referred to in
the same terms, and with the same systemic expectations, as actual multilateral
systems (such as, for example, international trade law). However, one of the
peculiarities of international investment law is that it is based on an extremely
wide range of bilateral and plurilateral instruments.8 The common language and
content of these instruments allows to treat them as expressions of a widely accepted
multilateral regime. It can be argued that investment arbitrators represent the link
among all these instruments and the various cases arising out of them: they are the
sole subjects called to consider and interpret them in official decision-making (and,
one may suggest, law-making) settings. Furthermore, the practice of repeated
appointments has now culminated in the establishment of a relatively small group
of individuals who can consider themselves professional, full-time arbitrators (rather
than merely practitioners or academics who occasionally get appointed to investment
arbitral tribunals). These individuals influence, if not direct entirely, the development
of international investment law. It is therefore possible, as it will be done in this
chapter, to refer to arbitrators as a group, overcoming the formalist objection that
every dispute is self-referential and the arbitrators thereby appointed must only

6
Bonnitcha et al. (2017), pp. 6 and 223; Langford and Behn (2018), p. 557.
7
Bennaim-Selvi (2005), p.774; Viñuales (2006), p. 235; Mourre (2006), p. 258; Fach Gómez
(2012), p. 511; Kaufmann-Kohler (2013), p. 309.
8
On January 4th, 2020, the total number of bilateral investment treaties was 2896, of which 2337
currently in force; furthermore, there are 389 plurilateral treaties with provisions on investment
protection, of which 314 are currently in force. Source: United Nations Conference on Trade and
Development (UNCTAD) International Investment Agreement Navigator, at https://
investmentpolicy.unctad.org/international-investment-agreements.
8 P. Vargiu

concern themselves with its facts and applicable law. Arbitrators, being vested with
the task of developing the international law on foreign investment, are therefore
required to interact continuously with the afore-mentioned stakeholders of invest-
ment arbitration, besides the parties to particular disputes. The question should
therefore be not whether such a relationship exists, but rather what its terms are.
In this chapter, I will suggest an analysis of the relationship between arbitrators
and the stakeholders of investment arbitration modelled upon Roland Barthes’
theory of the relationship between teachers and students. Roland Barthes was neither
a lawyer nor a legal philosopher—in fact, he mostly ignored the law as a field of
study in his literary and academic ventures. He was, however, an attentive and acute
observer of human and social relations, as proven by his vast and diverse production
generated in the 1950s, 1960s and especially in the 1970s, in the wake of his pivotal
essay “The Death of the Author”.9 I would argue that, while the relationship between
arbitrators and parties is purely contractual, arbitrators and stakeholders of invest-
ment arbitration are also bound by social—or socio-legal, loosely speaking—con-
nections. Such connections replicate, mutatis mutandis, any setting where
determined individuals are recognised as leaders and are called to guide the com-
munity they lead and respond to at the same time. Any social relationship entails
duties and expectations from all the parties involved; as it will be seen in the
remainder of this chapter, Barthes’ analysis of the teacher-student relationship can
help addressing the duties and expectations of arbitrators and stakeholders in the
context of the investment arbitral regime. Therefore, the aim of this chapter is to
frame the role and functions of investment arbitrators with regard to stakeholders
beyond claimants and respondent, and question how such roles and functions can be
theorised (a) in isolation from formalistic approaches to investment arbitration that
would call for positive actions, and (b) in light of existing multilateral approaches
that have contributed to the development of the field of international investment law.
This chapter is thus structured as follows: Sect. 2 will briefly address the nominal
functions of investment arbitrators under the instruments in force regulating their
duties; Sect. 3 will provide an overview of the actual role of arbitrators in the context
of the investment arbitral regime, as briefly anticipated in this introduction; Sect. 4
will address the relationship between arbitrators and stakeholders of investment
arbitration focussing on the duties and expectations of the leaders and the commu-
nity they operate in. Finally, Sect. 5 shall provide a few concluding remarks.

9
Originally published in the American multimedia magazine Aspen, issue 5-6 (1967), and later
reprinted in Barthes (1977a), p. 142.
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 Their school was about two miles off, on the Stirling road—a
famous genteel school for young lady boarders, where only these
two little strangers were admitted as day scholars, because
“Allenders” was landlord of the house. Violet and Katie dined with
the young ladies at Blaelodge, besides having lessons with them;
and they were being practically trained into the “manners” for which
good, stiff, kindly Miss Inglis was renowned. On this particular
morning the children ran to their room for their bonnets, and
collected their books from the sunny window in the hall, just beside
the door, which they had chosen for their study, with a considerable
flutter of excitement; for to have “the carriage” stop at Blaelodge,
and Harry himself, the most dignified of mortal men in the eyes of
both, seen by all the young ladies at all the windows taking care of
them, was quite an overwhelming piece of grandeur.
“He’ll take off his hat to Miss Inglis,” said Katie, reverentially, “I saw
him do that once, Violet, to the minister’s wife.”
“Eh, I’ve lost my grammar,” said Violet in dismay. “Katie, do you
mind where we had it last? And there’s Harry ready at the door.”
“When we were sitting on the steps at Dragon’s room last night,”
said the accurate Katie, “yes, I ken; and I’ll run, Lettie.”
“I’ll run myself,” said Violet stoutly; and there immediately followed
a race across the lawn, which Lettie, being most impetuous,
threatened at first to win, but which was eventually carried by the
steadier speed of Katie Calder.
The Dragon himself, taking long, feeble, tremulous strides over the
dewy turf, met them half way, carrying the lost grammar.
“Ay, I kent it was near school time,” said old Adam; “and what
should I pit my fit on, the first thing this morning when I steppit out
o’ my ain door, but this braw new book? What gars ye be such
careless monkeys? And it might just as easy have tumbled down off
the step to the byre door, and had the brown cow Mailie, tramp on’t
instead o’ me—and then ye never could have looked at it again,
bairns. I wish you would just mind that a’ thing costs siller.”
 “Eh, Dragon, Harry is to take us to Blaelodge in the carriage,” said
Violet; “for Harry is going to Stirling to bring home Mr. Charteris to
stay a whole week; and you mind Mr. Charteris, Dragon?”
“That’s yon birkie,” said the old man. “Is he coming to be married
upon Miss Rose?”
“As if Rose would marry anybody!” said Violet, with disdain; “but,
eh, Katie! I dinna mind my grammar.”
“Because you made him tell us fairy tales last night,” said the
sensible Katie; “but I had my grammar learned first. Come away,
Lettie, and learn it on the road.”
“And I’ll maybe daunder as far as Maidlin Cross and meet ye,
bairns, when ye’re coming hame,” said Dragon. “And I wadna care, if
Mr. Hairy gave ye the auld gig to drive ye ower every morning mysel,
and sae ye may tell him.”
But Harry, just then, had discovered, by a second glance at
Cuthbert’s note, that he did not expect to arrive in Stirling till four or
five o’clock. “It does not matter, however,” said Harry, “I have
something to do in Stirling, and an hour or two is not of much
importance. Have a good dinner for us, Agnes—perhaps I may bring
out somebody else with me. Now, little ones, jump in—and you need
not expect us till five.”
Agnes stood on the steps, very gay and blooming, in a morning
dress which she would have thought magnificent Sabbath-day’s
apparel six months ago; while Rose, behind her, held up little Harry
to kiss his hand to his young father. The window of the dining-room,
where they had breakfasted, was open, and Martha stood beside it
looking out. She was chiding herself, as she found that all those
peaceful days had not yet quite obliterated the old suspicious anxiety
which trembled to see Harry depart anywhere alone; and
unconsciously she pulled the white jasmine flowers which clustered
about the window, and felt their fragrance sicken her, and threw
them to the ground. Many a time after, there returned to Martha’s
heart the odour of those jasmine flowers.
 The high trees gleaming in the golden sunshine, the dewy bits of
shade, and then the broad flush of tangible light into which their
horse dashed at such an exhilarating pace, made the heart of Harry
bound as lightly as did those of the children by his side. In his warm
and kindly good-humour Harry even hesitated to set them down at
the very shady gate of Blaelodge, which the sunshine never reached
even in midsummer, till its latest hour, and gave five minutes to
consider the practicability of carrying them with him to Stirling; but it
was not practicable—and Harry only paused to lift them out, and bid
them hurry home at night to see the strangers, before proceeding
himself on his farther way. The influence of the bright summer day
entered into his very heart; he looked to his right hand, where lay
the silver coils of the Forth, gleaming over fertile fields and through
rich foliage; he looked before him, where his young groom steadily
driving on, cut in two the far-off mass of Benledi, and lifted his
towering head over the mountain—an unconscious innocent Titan—
and Harry’s heart ran over like a child’s, and he scarcely could keep
himself still for a second, but whistled and sang, and talked to John,
till John thought Allenders the merriest and wittiest gentleman in the
country side; and John was not much mistaken.
The day passed with the children, as days at school always pass.
Violet very quick and very ambitious, resolute not to lose the silver
medal inscribed with its glorious “Dux,” which she had worn for a
whole week, managed to learn her grammar in some mysterious
magical way which the steady Katie Calder could not comprehend;
and at last, just as Martha at home began to superintend the toilette
which Rose anxiously desired to have plainer than usual to-day,
although in spite of her, herself took involuntary pains with it, Katie
and Violet gathered up their books, and left Blaelodge. Their road
was the highway—a fine one, though not so delightful to Lettie as
the narrower bye-lanes about Allenders—but the sun was sufficiently
low to leave one side of the path, protected by high hedges and a
fine line of elm trees, very shady and cool and pleasant. So they
walked along the soft velvet grass, which lined their road, and
lingered at the door of the one wayside cottage, and further on gave
loving salutation to the cottar’s cow, feeding among the sweet deep
herbage, all spangled with wildflowers, and cool with the elm tree’s
shadow, which made her milk so rich and fragrant, and herself a
household treasure and estate. The little village of Maidlin lay half
way between Blaelodge and Allenders, a hamlet of rude labourers’
houses untouched by the hand of improvement, where shrewish
hens and sunburnt children swarmed about the doors continually.
There had been once a chapel here dedicated to the pensive
Magdalen, and an old stone cross still stood in the centre of the
village, which—though there now remained no vestige of the chapel
—retained the Scoticised name of the Saint.
“There’s Dragon at the cross,” said Katie Calder, who was skipping
on in advance, leaving Violet absorbed in a childish reverie behind,
“and he’s telling a story to a’ the bairns.”
So saying, Katie, who did not choose to lose the story, ran forward;
while Lettie, only half awakened, and walking straight on in an
unconscious, abstracted fashion peculiar to herself, had time to be
gradually roused before she joined the little group which encircled
the Dragon of Allenders.
He, poor old man, leaned against the cross, making a gesture now
and then with those strange dangling arms of his which, called forth
a burst of laughter, and scattered the little crowd around him for a
moment, only to gather them closer the next. He was, indeed, telling
a story—a story out of the Arabian Nights, which Violet herself had
left in his room.
“Ay, bairns, ye see I’m just ready,” said Dragon, finishing “Sinbad
the Sailor,” with a flourish of those long disjointed arms. “Ony divert
does to pass the time when ane’s waiting, for ye’re aff-putting
monkeys, and might hae been here half an hour since—no to say
there’s a grand dinner making at the house, and as many flowers
pu’ed as would plenish a poor man’s garden, and Miss Rose dressed
like a fairy in a white gown, and ilka ane grander than anither.
Whisht, wee laddies! do ye no see the twa missies carrying their ain
books hame frae the school, and I maunna stop to tell ony mair
stories to you.”
“Come back the morn, Dragon.” “Dinna eat them, Dragon, or chain
them up in your den.” “If ye do, I’ll come out and fecht ye!” cried the
“laddies” of Maidlin Cross; for those sturdy young sons of the soil, in
two distinct factions, gave their fervent admiration to Katie and
Violet, and would have been but too happy to do battle for them on
any feasible occasion.
“Have they come, Dragon?” asked Lettie. “Has Harry and Mr.
Charteris come?”
“Nae word of them, nae word of them,” answered the Dragon.
“They’re in at Stirling doing their ain pleasure, ye may tak my word
for that. See, bairns, yonder’s Geordie Paxton, my sister’s son,
coming in frae the field. He’s very sune dune the nicht. Just you look
at him as he gangs by, and see what an auld failed man he is, aulder
like than me.”
Geordie, laden with his spades, his mattocks, and his hoes, was
returning home with those heavy, lengthened, slow strides which
almost persuade you that some great clod drags back the heavy-
weighted footstep of the rustic labourer. He was a man of fifty, with
bent shoulders and a furrowed face; but though their old attendant
advanced to him at a pace which Geordie’s slow step could ill have
emulated, the children, glancing up at the hale, brown, careworn
face of the family father, and contrasting with it their poor old
Dragon’s ashy cheeks and wandering eyes, were by no means
inclined to pronounce Geordie as old as his uncle.
“How’s a’ wi’ ye the day, auld man?” said the slow-spoken labourer.
“Aye daundering about in the auld way, I see. And how are ye liking
the new family, uncle?”
“No that ill,” answered the old man. “I’ve kent waur, to be such
young craturs; and to tell you the truth, Geordie, I feel just that I
might be their faither, and that I’m appointed to take care o’ the puir
things. Thae’s twa o’ the bairns, and our Mr. Hairy’s wean is weer
than them still.”
“He has a muckle family on his hands, puir lad,” said Geordie. “He’ll
hae mair o’ his ain siller than the Allenders lands, it’s like, or he ne’er
would live in such grandeur. Your auld man never tried the like of
yon, uncle.”
“Ay, but Mr. Hairy has a grand spirit,” said the Dragon; “and what
for should he no have a’ thing fine about him, sic a fine young lad as
he is? See yonder, he’s coming this very minute along the road.”
The boys were still grouped in a ring round Maidlin Cross; and as
Dragon spoke a shrill cheer hailed the advent of Harry’s carriage as
it dashed along in a cloud of dust towards Allenders. Harry himself
was driving, his face covered with smiles, but his hands holding tight
by the reins, and himself in a state of not very comfortable
excitement, at the unusual pace of the respectable horse, which he
had chafed into excitement too. In the carriage was Charteris,
looking grave and anxious, Gilbert Allenders, and another; but Harry
could only nod, and Cuthbert bend over the side, to bow and wave
his hand to little Violet as they flew past. There was not really any
danger, for Harry’s horse understood its business much better than
its driver did; but Harry himself was considerably alarmed, though
his pride would not permit him to deliver up the reins into the hands
of John, who sat on the box by his side.
Violet did not think of danger; but, without saying a word to any
one, and indeed with a perfect inability to give a reason, she sat
down upon the roadside grass, and cried. Dragon, who had added a
feeble hurra to the cheer of the boys, bent down his white head
anxiously, and Katie sat by her side and whispered, “Dinna greet!”
and Geordie looked on in hard, observant silence. But when Lettie
rose at last, and dried her eyes, and went on, neither her young
companion nor her old one could glean from her what ailed her.
“Nothing—she did not know.” Poor little Lettie! she did not know
indeed.
 CHAPTER XIII.

Oh, how much more doth beauty beauteous seem

By that sweet ornament which truth doth give!
The rose looks fair, but fairer we it deem
For that sweet odour which doth in it live.

shakspeare.

Sullen Demeyet lies mantled over with the sunshine which steals
gradually further and further westward, pencilling out with a daring
touch his rugged shoulders, and throwing into deepest shadow, here
and there, an abrupt hollow on his side. The trees of Allenders
shadow the river just under the windows, but on either side the sun
flashes off the dazzling water, as if it had a resistant power, and
could repel the rays and throw them back with disdain and pride.
Just now the little Stirling steamer, bound for Leith, has passed those
overhanging trees, while up upon their drooping branches, with the
momentary force of sea surf, comes a great roll of foaming water
displaced by the passing vessel, and rushing along the green river
banks after it, like an insulted water-god. There is always some one
at the east window of the Allenders’ drawing-room when the
steamer passes up or down, for it is a pleasant sight, winding hither
and thither through the bright links of Forth, with its gay passengers
and rapid motion, and gives to the broad landscape the animation
which it needs.
By the east window at this present moment, Rose, and Rose alone,
occupies the usual place. She wears a white gown, as Dragon said,
and if scarcely self-possessed enough for a fairy, looks prettier and
more delicate than usual, and has a slight tremor upon her, which
she can neither subdue nor hide. Agnes, with little Harry in her
arms, stands on the turret, eagerly looking out for the returning
carriage, while Martha at a lower window watches the same road.
Fain would Rose take her place, too, on the breezy turret; fain be
the first to read in Harry’s eye how he has spent these hours in
Stirling; but no, Harry is not first just now in the thoughts of his
sister. She is not thinking about any one, Rose would tell you
indignantly; but, nevertheless, she sits here with the most obstinate
industry, at the east window where it is impossible to obtain the
least glimpse of the road, and trembles a little, and drops her
needle, and thinks she can hear every leaf fall, and can tell when a
fly alights on the gravel walk, so keen is her ear for every sound.
And now there comes through the drawn curtains of the west
window, which at present is full of sunshine, the sound of a great
commotion; and carriage-wheels dash over the gravel, and Agnes
flies down stairs, and Harry calls loudly to John, who has sprung
from his perch to catch the excited horse by the head, and calm him
down, that the gentlemen may alight in safety. The colour comes
and goes upon Rose’s cheek, and her fingers shake so, that she
scarcely can hold the needle, but she sits still; and though Harry’s
laugh immediately after rings strangely on her ear, and she listens
with sudden anxiety for his voice, Rose never leaves her window—
for another voice there has spoken too.
By and bye a sound of footsteps and voices come up the stair, and
Rose suddenly commanding herself, raises her head and becomes
elaborately calm and self-possessed. Alas, poor Rose! for the door of
the drawing-room opens, and the voices pause without, but there
only enters—Gilbert Allenders.
Gilbert Allenders and a stranger like himself—an intimate of his,
whom he has persuaded Harry into acquaintance with. No one
knows that Rose is here; no one thinks of her, indeed, but the guest
of honour who is being conducted to his own room, and who does
not at all admire the loud greeting in which Mr. Gilbert Allenders
expresses his delight at finding her; but poor Rose, returning those
greetings with intense pride, disappointment and reserve, could
almost cry, as she finds herself compelled to be amiable to Harry’s
friend. And now she has time to grow painfully anxious about Harry
himself, and to think of his excited voice and laughter, and to shiver
with sudden fear.
While Rose sits thus, Martha, with so still a step that you cannot
hear her enter, comes gliding into the room like a ghost. With the old
feverish solicitude, the younger sister seeks the elder’s eye; but Rose
learns nothing from the unusual gaiety of Martha’s face. Indeed this
smile, so forced and extreme, and the light tone in which her grave
sister immediately begins to speak—speaking too so very much more
than her wont—terrifies Rose. The strangers see nothing more than
a proper animation, and Gilbert Allenders relaxes and condescends
to notice Martha; but Rose steals out in wonder and terror, fearing
she knows not what.
There is nothing to fear—nothing—say it again, Rose, that your
loving anxious heart may be persuaded. Harry stands by the table in
his dressing-room, unfolding a great bale of beautiful silk to the
wondering eyes of Agnes; and though Harry is a little more voluble
than usual, and has an unsteady glimmer in his eye, and a continual
smile, which reminds her of some sad homecomings of old, there is
in reality nothing here to make any one unhappy. Nothing—nothing
—but Rose’s heart grows sick with its own confused quick throbs as
she lingers, looking in at the door.
“Come along here, Rosie; look what I have been getting a lecture
for,” cried Harry, looking up from the table. “It seems that Agnes
needs no more gowns. Come here, and see if there is anything for
you.”
And Rose, who was by no means above the usual girlish vanities,
but liked to see pretty things, and liked to wear them, went in very
quickly—much more anxious than curious it is true, but nevertheless
owning to a little curiosity as well.
“Oh, Rose, see what Harry has brought me,” said Agnes, breathless
with delight, deprecation and fear: “such a splendid silk, white and
blue! but it’s too grand, Rose—do you not think so? And this quiet
coloured one—it is quite as rich though—is for Martha; and here is
yours—pink, because your hair is dark, Harry says.”
And as Agnes spoke, Harry caught up the radiant pink silk
glistening with its rich brocaded flowers, and threw it upon Rose,
covering her simple muslin gown. To say that Rose’s first impression
was not pleasure would be untrue—or that she did not bestow a
glance of affectionate admiration upon the three varieties of Harry’s
choice. But the eyes that sought them for a moment sought again
with a lengthened wistful gaze his own flushed and happy face. And
Harry was considerably excited—that was all—and it was so very
easy to account for that.
“But just now, you know, we cannot afford it,” said Agnes,
gathering her own silk into folds, which she arranged scientifically on
her arm, and looking at it with her head on one side, as she held it
in different lights. “I never saw anything so beautiful—it’s just too
grand; but then the price, Harry!”
“Don’t you trouble yourself about the price,” said Harry, gaily.
“You’ve nothing to do but to be pleased with them; no, nor Martha
either; for do you think, after securing that old wife’s siller, that I
may not indulge myself with a silk gown or two? And if my wife and
my sisters won’t wear them, why I can only wear them myself.
There, there’s some cobweb muslin stuff in the parcel for the two of
you, young ladies, and something for Lettie and her friend, and
something for our heir; but away with you now, girls, and let me
dress, and say nothing about the money.”
Ah! hapless Miss Jean Calder! if but you could have heard and seen
the doings of this zealous agricultural improver, whose resolute
purpose of doubling the value of his newly-acquired lands, drew your
beloved “siller” out of its safe concealment, what a wailing banshee
shriek had wrung then through these sunny rooms of Allenders! Not
on strong cattle and skilful implements—not on the choice seed and
the prepared soil—but on the vanities you have scorned through all
your envious lifetime—to deck the fair young forms, whose gladsome
breath you grudge to them—that your gold, the beloved of your
heart, should be squandered thus! Alas, poor miser! But Miss Jean
even now clutches her mortgage parchment, with the glitter of
malicious power in her cold blue eyes. Let them squander who will—
she has secured herself.
And Martha, even in her heart, does not say, “Poor Harry!” No,
Martha, for the first time, tries to blind herself with false hope—tries
to dismiss all her old anxious love from her heart, and be careless,
and take no thought for the morrow. She has determined to think of
Harry’s errors as other people think—to call them exuberances,
follies of youth, and to smile with gentle indulgence, instead of
sorrowing in stern despair. For Harry is a man—head of a household;
and Martha tries to endure placidly—tries to persuade herself that
there is nothing to endure—knows that he must be left now to
himself, to make his own fate. To-day she sees, as no other eye can
see, the beginning of peril, and Harry’s excitement, excusable
though it may be, and constantly as she herself excuses it, has
wrought in Martha a kindred agitation. She will not permit herself to
grieve or to fear; but sad is this assumed light-heartedness which
Rose trembles to see.
Meanwhile Rose and Agnes, who have carried off Harry’s gifts
between them, are laughing and crying together over the store. It
may be imprudent—it may be extravagant; but it is “so kind of
Harry!” He is so anxious to give them pleasure.
And Mr. Charteris, in the drawing-room, talks to Martha with some
abstraction, and coldly withdraws himself from the elegant
conversation of Mr. Gilbert Allenders. Cuthbert cannot understand
why Rose should avoid him; and he feels the blood warm at his
heart with the pride to which neglect is grievous. But, at the same
time, he is troubled and depressed, and looks with a yearning he
never knew before at the closed door, and speaks little, lest he
should lose the sound of the approaching footstep, which he
remembers to be so light. The room is full of roses, though now in
July their flush of beauty is nearly over. Roses red and white, the
delicate blush and the burning purple; but Cuthbert would throw
them all into the river joyfully for one glimpse of his Lady Rose.
This love-fit sits strangely on the grave advocate—he does not
quite understand how, of all men in the world, it should have found
out him—and its effect is singular. It moves him, perhaps by the
power of those circumstances which hang over this family like a
continual cloud, to a half-sorrowful tenderness for everything young
and gentle. It does not occur to Cuthbert to inquire why his constant
dream is to comfort, to console, to carry away the Rose of Allenders,
and bear her tenderly in his arms out of sorrow and trial. This is the
aspect under which he instinctively views the conclusion of his
growing affection. Sometimes, indeed, there break upon him fair
visions of a bride in the sunshine, a home gladdened by a joyous,
youthful voice, and smiles like the morning; but the usual current of
Cuthbert’s fancies present to him a far-off glimpse of happiness,
chastened and calmed by suffering; and his hope is to deliver her
out of some indefinite gloom and evil, to deliver and carry her home
into a gentle rest.
And the shadow of this visionary trouble to come, throws a tender
pathos over Rose in the eyes of her true knight. His stout heart
melts when he sees her, with an indescribable softening—as if he
extended his arms involuntarily, not so much to enclose her for his
own content, as to ward off unseen impending dangers, and keep
her safe by his care. Nevertheless, Cuthbert feels his cheek burn
with quick, indignant anger, and starts and frowns in spite of himself,
when he perceives that Gilbert Allenders gives his arm—again with
considerable demonstration—to the shy, reluctant Rose.
Harry is new to his duties as host, and perhaps his attention to his
guests is slightly urgent and old-fashioned; but Harry is in
triumphant spirits, and throws his radiant good-humour and
satisfaction over them all like a great light. Not without a secret
misgiving at the bottom of their hearts, Rose and Agnes make strong
efforts to rise to Harry’s pitch, if it were but to persuade themselves
how innocent and blameless is Harry’s exhilaration; and Martha
continues to smile and speak as Rose never heard her speak before.
It is quite a gay dinner-table.
The time glides on, the ladies leave the dining-room; but when they
are alone, after some forced efforts to keep it up, their gaiety flags,
and one after another glides to her accustomed seat, and subsides
into unbroken silence. It is true that the rejoicings of Violet and Katie
over the new frocks which Harry has not failed to bring for them,
make a little episode, and sustain the animation for a short time—
but the sure reaction comes; and now they sit still, one professing to
read, and the others working, but all casting anxious looks towards
the door.
By and bye comes laughter and voices and ringing footsteps up the
stair, but only Charteris enters the drawing-room; for Harry and his
other friends are climbing further up to the turret, where he has
fitted up a little “den,” as Gilbert Allenders calls it, for himself. And
their good friend, Mr. Charteris, looks very grave; they think Harry
has lowered himself in Cuthbert’s eyes—they think this seriousness is
the painful regret with which a strong man sees a weak one sink
under temptation; and their hearts flutter within them with restless
anxiety, and they listen to Harry’s laugh in the distance till its echo
makes them sick. While, all the time, Cuthbert is too much
interested not to notice how uneasily the young wife moves upon
her chair, and the abstraction from which Martha starts with a dismal
resolution to be gay again. Poor Harry! But Cuthbert stands behind
the chair of Rose, and feels that he is consoling her—feels that he is
occupying with his presence something of the space which, without
him, might have been wholly given to anxiety and fear.
The children are already out under the windows, playing on the
lawn; and, at Cuthbert’s suggestion, Rose and Martha accompany
him to the mall on the river-side. He tells them how he admired this
when he came first with Harry to see Allenders, and that he often
fancies how they must enjoy this verdant cloister when he is shut up
in his office at Edinburgh. The sun slants in through the great oak
which rounds the end of the mall, and just touches here and there a
heavy alder leaf, and lights up one little branch upon a stately elm,
with tender golden rays, cool and dewy; and there is wind enough to
disturb the long willow branches and ruffle the fleecy lining of their
leaves. A narrow strip of path, sandy and yellow, breaks the soft
green turf which slopes down to the water on one side, and on the
other, rich with flower-beds, stretches up in a slight incline to the
walls of Allenders; and Cuthbert, with Martha on his arm, walks
slowly, silently, looking after the white figure which has strayed a
step or two before. Slightly turning towards them, with a shy, half-
conscious look backwards, Rose says something to Martha about the
wild flowers in the grass; and Rose guesses, with a tremor, that
Cuthbert has had visions of herself under the shadow of these trees,
and feels that his eye just now is dwelling upon her, and that he is
saying words to her in his heart. But the charmed silence lasts, and
even Martha, looking on, has not the heart to break its spell.
But look up yonder at the turret. With the sun glancing in his hair,
Harry stands in the little battlemented gallery, and holds up a glass
of sparkling wine, and bows and smiles, and drinks to them.
Immediately both the sisters look at Cuthbert; and Cuthbert, with a
gaiety he does not feel, takes off his hat, and returns the salutation
with playful stateliness. His gesture cheers them, and they become
again quite tremulously glad, when he calls to Harry to come down,
and Harry nods in assent, and disappears upon the turret stair. It is
true that the momentary smile flits away from Cuthbert’s face, and
he becomes very serious. But they are looking for Harry—they do
not see the deep regret and gravity which clouds the brow of his
friend, who, within himself, says “Poor Harry!” with a heavy sigh.
And Harry is now more excited than ever, and they are constantly
calming and soothing him to keep him within bounds—trying to be
gay themselves that his unreal gaiety may be less marked—and
carefully avoiding everything which could possibly irritate his
feelings. Poor Harry! some wistful eye is always following him, some
solicitous voice constantly interposing to bring down to the ordinary
quietness and moderation his unconscious extravagance—eyes
which are afraid to meet—afraid to confide to each other, even by a
glance, this new pain which Harry has brought upon them; for
hitherto they have seen principally the remorse which followed his
fall, and never before have beheld others conscious, of what so
greatly humiliated themselves. Now the sneer and patronizing
forbearance of Gilbert Allenders, who has too cool a head to be
moved as Harry is, chafes Martha beyond endurance, and excites
the gentle little Agnes to such a pitch of anger, that her hand
clenches involuntarily, and she could almost strike him in a burst of
weeping petulance. But the long, long painful hours pass away, and
at last it is night.
“It is nothing—it is nothing. Nobody thinks anything of this but us.
We are always so anxious!” sobs Agnes, as she wakes in the middle
of the night, and weeps; but Martha, who does not need to wake—
who has never slept—suffers her heart to say nothing, but only
prays, and tries to forget—tries to think of anything rather than
Harry; and cannot weep, if she should try for ever.
 CHAPTER XIV.

And gentle hands the breakfast-rite begin,

Then the bright kettle sings its matin song.
Then fragrant clouds of Mocha and Souchong
Blend as they rise.

rogers.

“Who is that out there, leading the horse?” asked Agnes, with some
anxiety.
The snowy linen and bright silver and china of the breakfast-table
sparkle in the sunshine. At a corner, Violet and Katie sit before a
covered tray, hastily taking their porridge; for the breakfast is much
later than usual this morning, and the children are in great haste,
lest they should be too late for school. Rose is working at the corner
window—the new window, where the white rose bush nods up to
her, and lays a snowy fragrant present of buds upon the window-
ledge; but Martha stands silently, as she stood last morning, to
watch Harry go away, and again pulls with unconscious fingers the
jasmine flowers.
“Who is that?” repeated Agnes.
It is only a groom leading up and down, on the broad gravel walk
at the other side of the lawn, a fine horse, stately and impatient,
which scorns its limited space, and paws the gravel disdainfully, and
arches its proud neck to the infinite admiration of the Dragon and
John, who stand by the holly hedge as spectators. Katie and Violet,
attracted by the repetition of Agnes’s question, rush from the
window to the door to ascertain; and after a brief conversation with
Dragon, Violet returns, breathless, with the information, that it is a
new riding-horse, sent out this morning from Stirling, where Harry
bought it yesterday; but that Dragon says it is too wild a horse for
any but a bold rider, and that it is sure to throw Mr. Hairy.
“Tell Dragon he’s an old fool, and that he had better think what he
says,” said Harry himself, who suddenly made his appearance as
Violet spoke; “and you, Lettie, mind your own business, and don’t be
so officious in reporting what everybody tells you. Why don’t you get
these children off to school, Agnes? Yes, it’s my horse. I hope no
one has any objection.”
Poor Harry! in this morning light, his own conscience has weighty
objections, and upbraids him with folly and extravagance. But Harry
feels miserable, and is not well—angry with himself, and defiant of
all around him—and he feels himself bound in honour to defend his
horse.
But no one attacks it; poor little Agnes is only anxious and
deprecatory, eager to smile away his impatience, and cheer the
depression which she very well knows is sure to follow; while Martha
still stands at the open window, without ever turning her head, and
vacantly draws the long, pliant branch of jasmine through her
fingers, and says not a word.
“They are just going away,” said Agnes, hastily tying on the bonnet
which Lettie had brought in her hand; “they have just breakfasted,
you see, Harry. We are rather late this morning; and Mr. Charteris is
not down stairs yet.”
Harry left the room immediately, and went out. The arrival of this
horse did him good—dispersing the clouds of his depression, and its
consequent ill-humour—and before he returned to the breakfast-
room, Harry had consoled his conscience by a resolution to begin
immediately his agricultural labours, and to spend no more of Miss
Jean’s money, except lawfully, on the object for which he borrowed
it.
When he re-entered the room Cuthbert was there, and Harry had
to smooth his brow and welcome his guest. Agnes still half
trembling, and growing talkative in her anxiety to restore ease to the
conversation, found herself, to her great delight and astonishment,
seconded by Martha, as they took their places round the table. And
the still composure of Martha’s manner did more for this end, than
the tremulous eagerness of the little wife. They regained the every-
day tone, the every-day level of quietness and repose; and Agnes
began to flatter herself that nothing unusual had happened last
night after all, and Harry to think that his conscience blamed him
unjustly; only the sickness in Martha’s heart lay still, uneased, and
undisturbed. She was done with struggling—now she had only to
wait for what it pleased God to reveal.
Charteris was to stay a week, and numerous excursions were
discussed at the breakfast-table. It was a relief to them all, to have
these things to speak about; but Cuthbert exerted himself to-day to
gain the confidence of Harry, and did in some degree gain it. They
spoke together of the projected improvements; and though Harry
said with a little braggadocio that it was “an old rich aunt” who had
given him the necessary capital, he was tolerably frank about his
intentions, and very glad to receive introductions to some
agricultural authorities whom Cuthbert knew. They walked together
over the farm which the tenant was to leave at Martinmas, and
together commented on the lean and scanty crops, which sparely
covered the half-cultured soil. It was a fresh, showery day, enlivened
by a light breeze, which brought down the chiller breath of the hills
over the green lowland country; and as this wind waved about his
hair, and blew the sparkling rain against his cheeks, Harry struggled
under the uneasy burden on his heart, and tried to throw it off, and
let it vex him no more. “Forgetting the things that are behind,” he
muttered to himself, as they paused on a little eminence, and saw
the sun touch into brilliant light a thousand rain-drops among the
waving corn, and on the roadside trees—for still a heavy
consciousness gnawed at his heart, and compelled him to try some
bargain with it for rest—and Harry gladly turned to look away from
the past, into the broad life which lay before him, as bright as this
sunny strath, though, like it, dewed with tears; and in the future his
sanguine eyes again saw nothing but hope.
“Forgetting the things that are behind!” Alas, poor Harry! for it was
only too easy to forget.
But there followed a few days of cheerful activity, the very first of
which dissipated into thin air the last remnant of Harry’s remorseful
consciousness—for Cuthbert and he rode together to call on some of
the agricultural authorities before mentioned, and take counsel with
them—not always sweet—concerning all the processes of the
warfare which should subjugate this stubborn soil; and Harry
advertised in the local newspapers for a manager to take charge of
his farming operations, and heard of one before his advertisement
was printed, so suitable, as it seemed, in every respect, that Harry,
fearing he might not wait till Martinmas, engaged him out of hand in
July, that no one else might seize on such a treasure.
Not only so—but Harry, whose pride had been greatly hurt by
Dragon’s implied opinion that he was a timid rider, subdued his
horse, at no small cost to his own nerves, and rode a dozen miles to
a cattle-show, partly in self-assertion, partly to acquire some
knowledge of “the beasts,” which his agricultural instructors
discoursed of so learnedly; but Harry was not the man to study
beasts, and his long ride exhausted him, though it was a triumph.
He had settled matters, however, with his conscience which now,
rather applauded than condemned—and Harry was content.
Poor Harry! but when Cuthbert’s week was out, he said those
words with eyes that glistened, and a yearning heart; for Harry was
born to be loved, and amid all his faults, and all the unconscious
selfishness of his indulgences, he never lost this natural portion.
And Cuthbert, leaving behind him a bright, cheerful, hopeful
household, as ready to be exhilarated as depressed, had said
nothing to Rose—for he himself had little yet to share with any one,
and he was afraid to risk his affectionate interest with the family as
friend and counsellor, even for the chance of attaining the nearer
and still more affectionate connexion for which he hoped. And
Cuthbert, in his tenderness of protection and succour, exaggerated
the difference between his age and hers; he only thought himself
likely to succeed at all, by the gentle and gradual process of wooing,
which might accustom and attach her to him before she was aware.
So he went away quietly, leaving, it is true, many tokens which
spoke to Rose a strange, unusual language, showing her how much
space she occupied in the heart and thoughts of this man, who, of
all men she had ever seen, held the highest place. And Rose
trembled and smiled with indefinite delight as words and looks came
to her remembrance—looks and words which Cuthbert had feared
would alarm and startle her, but which even his self-command could
not restrain. There is a charm in this guessed and implied affection
which perhaps no certainty has; and Rose, whose thoughts had not
yet taken shape or form, whose shy, womanly heart shrank even
from believing itself beloved, and who would have denied the belief
strenuously, had she asked herself the question in so many words—
Rose suffered a bright mist of reverie to float about her, and was
thrilled now and then with apprehensions and revelations, starting
out half-distinct for a moment, and anon disappearing into the sunny
maze. It was an idle mood, and sent her straying along the river-
side, and seated her for hours together under the oak, with vague
smiles and blushes flitting over her face, and many a dream in her
heart; but yet her needle flew swiftly too under this mist, and she
could be very well content with silence, for the long indefinite
musings of her romance were sweet to Rose.
 CHAPTER XV.
A good old man, Sir; he will be talking; as they say, when
the age is in, the wit is out.—much ado about nothing.
“And, Dragon, you mind you promised the very first day—but you
never told us yet the story of the Lady’s Well.”
“Have you ever been to see it, bairns?” asked the old man.
The children were seated on the outside stair, which led to Dragon’s
room. Violet, at least, sat on the upper step, with a book on her lap,
and a total disappearance of feet, which suggested a suspicion that
Lettie patronised the Turkish manner of seating herself rather than
the English. Katie, who had a larger share of boldness than her
friend, was jumping from the stair to the ground, mounting a step
higher for every leap, while Dragon stood on the threshold of his
own door, dangling his thin long arms, and talking to them with his
usual animation. It was not yet the hour “when the kye come hame,”
and the two little girls, who constantly attended Mysie during the
process of milking, were waiting for her appearance; besides that,
they very generally chose to learn their lessons on Dragon’s steps,
having a facility of interruption here, which they could attain to in no
other place.
“Eh, no—we’ve never been there!” cried Katie; “and Mysie’s no
away yet to bring the cow. We’ve plenty time. Will you come,
Dragon, and let us see it now?”
“I’m no heeding—if you’re sure you would like to gang,” said the
old man. “But then, how am I to ken that you’ve got a’ your lessons
bye, and that it’s lawful to take ye? for, you see, bairns that dinna
attend to their learning, have nae claim to diversion; and, Missie,
you’re no dune wi’ your book yet.”
 “But it’s just grammar, Dragon,” said Lettie, disconsolately; “and it’s
no use trying to learn it till I’m to say it, for I aye forget till it’s just
the time. Eh, Katie, you couldna jump off here.”
“Ye’re nane o’ ye gaun to jump and break banes at my door. I’ll no
hae mysel brocht in for a doctor’s bill, like the way the auld maister
brocht in Eppie for the muckle bowl she broke,” said Dragon. “Gang
quiet down the steps, bairns, or I’ll no let you come here ony mair.
And now, you see, we’ll take this road, and we’ll sune be at the
Lady’s Well.”
The road was a solitary lane, looking deep and cool under the
shadow of high thorn hedges, through which the delicate white
convolvulus had darned its fairy leaves and tendrils. Here and there
in the hedge-row, an old low oak, long shorn of all its branches,
stood alone like some strong ruin, with a growth of pliant twigs, and
young foliage waving over the bald trunk as they might have waved
over a moss-grown wall. The ruddy clouds of the sunset were rapidly
fading from the west, and already a meek young moon glanced
shyly over the head of Demeyet; but it was still full daylight, and the
children skipped along gaily by Dragon’s side, keeping an eye on the
field, whence Mailie, the brown cow, began to low her impatient
summons to her maid; but the maid did not make her appearance,
and Violet and Katie went merrily on to the Lady’s Well.
The Lady’s Well lay under the shadow of an immense old saugh
tree, whose whispering, sighing branches were continually bending
down with a kind of graceful melancholy curiosity over the clear
spring at its feet. A very narrow strip of path proved that there still
came occasional visitors to the little fountain; but the underwood
was thick and tangled round it, and the long bramble branches, on
which already early berries began to ripen, formed a dangerous
network of defence, closing up even the one entrance, which gave
admittance to the small circle of green turf surrounding the spring.
But there were signs remaining which told of a time when greater
honour was paid to the Lady’s Well; for the water bubbled up into a
marble basin, and a small carved canopy protected it from the falling
leaves. The little girls scrambled through the brambles with eager
interest, and Katie bent curiously over the protecting cradle, while
Violet sat down upon a great stone, which lay beside the basin—a
hewn stone, slightly hollowed out in the centre, as if it had been
used as a seat for ages. The stillness of the place, shut in on every
side by the surrounding wood, and the silvery tinkle with which the
water escaped from the hollowed edge of the basin, and passed
away in a slender thread over the bleached pebbles of its narrow
channel—away under the thick concealing brushwood, disappearing
as completely as though the earth had swallowed it again—affected
Lettie with strange awe; and so it was not her, but her little
companion, who broke the dreamy silence by demanding from
Dragon the story he had promised.
“Ye see, bairns,” said Dragon, seating himself on the slender trunk
of a young willow, cut down and left there for dead, but which was
already throwing out its unquenchable life in long shoots of delicate
green, “there was ance a Laird of Allenders, and he had ae only
daughter, and her name was Violet. But they never ca’d her Lettie,
as they do you, Missie—aye, the full name, like as if she had been a
flower; and as bonnie as a flower she was, by a’ accounts, and made
ballants and sangs out of her ain head. But, bairns, ye’ll be getting
your death of cauld in this dowie place, and then the blame’s sure to
come on me.”
“But the lady, Dragon—the lady,” exclaimed Violet, whose interest
had been greatly quickened by the lady’s name.
“Weel, as I was saying, there was not anither woman body about
the house but hersel, and some servant women—neither mother, nor
sister, nor friend; and the auld laird living solitary, and the young ane
away in Flanders at the wars; so Leddy Violet ga’ed wandering about
the water and the hills, her lane, and had an awfu’ wark wi’ this bit
spring, and caused bring the very stane you’re sitting on, Missie,” (a
thrill of strange interest passed over Lettie), “and came ilka day
hersel, and drank the water in a silver cup, and sat upon the seat,
with her ain thoughts for company, till the spirits that were in the
world then, began to take note of her, and tell ane anither of the
Lady at the Well. Some say she began to get wit of them hersel, and
saw them watching her out of the trees; but ye maunna believe that,
bairns, for it has nae foundation—no a hair of proof, to satisfy ony
man that inquired into it.”
“But there came a braw gentleman to the countryside that had a
grand castle some way in the Lennox, and great friends among the
Highland chiefs; and ae day, when he was gaun wandering by the
links of Forth, he heard music in the air, and ga’ed on and on,
following after it, till it led him by the very road we came this nicht,
and brought him to where Leddy Violet was sitting by the well. And
what should this be but a sma’ fairy, that had a lad hersel, nae
doubt, and likit Leddy Violet, and didna ken what grand company
guid thoughts were, but aye lamented ower the bonnie leddy, her
lane and solitary in the wood. Ane canna tell now what kind of spirits
thae fairies were, but nae doubt they had discrimination; for it even
turned out sae, that the leddy hersel likit the braw lad’s company
better than her ain thoughts.”
“Eh, Dragon, are you sure there’s nae fairies now?” asked Katie
Calder.
“He’ll tell us the morn. I want to hear about the Lady, Dragon?”
said the eager Violet.
“I never saw ony,” said the old man, mysteriously, “whiles I’ve
heard folk say—but I’ll no tell you that, or you’ll be feared.”
“What is it, Dragon?” exclaimed both the children in a breath.
“They say in moonlight nights, the fairies have a feast here, and
get their wine out of the well; and that there’s aye some about in
the gloaming spreading the tables; but they’ll no meddle wi’ ye, if
you’re guid bairns.”
Violet shaded her eyes with her hand, and looked intently under
the brushwood, to one spot of bright reflected light upon the water.
She did not speak, but with a shiver of fascination and awe watched
the slender current steal away under the leaves, and devoutly
believed that she had seen the golden vessels of the fairy feast; but
even this did not make her forget the story, and again she repeated,
“The lady, Dragon, the lady.”
“Weel, bairns, ye see it was the spring season then,” resumed
Dragon, “and there was a lang summer time to come—bonnie days
—we never have the like of them now—when Leddy Violet was
constant at the Well. And the lad—they ca’ed him Sir Harry—came
and went, and lay on the grass at her feet, and courted her, and
sang to her, and made his reverence, till she learned to think, poor
lassie, that there wasna a man like him in a’ the world. So he got
acquaint at her father’s house, and courted the auld laird for her,
and was about Allenders night and day; and at last it came to pass
that they were to be married.
“Now, ye see, having mair to do now, when she was soon to be a
married wife, she never got out to her auld wanderings, but sat with
her maids, and saw them make gowns of silk and satin for the grand
bridal; and this very same sma’ fairy that first brought the
gentleman to see her, had cast out with her ain lad by this time, and
was in a sorrowful humour, and could not keep her hand from aye
meddling with the leddy’s concerns. So what did she do, for an imp
of mischief as she maun hae been, but flee away to Sir Harry’s ain
land, and gather I kenna how mony stories of him; for he had been
but a wild lad in his young days, and was nae better than he should
be even then. And I canna tell ye, bairns, what art magic it was
dune by, but this I ken, that it a’ came to Leddy Violet’s ain ears—
every word o’t. Now ye maun mind, that for her ain sel, she was like
a saint; no a wee new-born bairn, nor ane of the like of you, mair
innocent than her, though she was a woman grown. And nae suner
had she heard this, than her maid that was wi’ her, was aware of a
sound like the snapping o’ a string. Na, missie, ye couldna guess
what that was—it was a sairer thing than you ever heard tell o’ a’
your days—it was Leddy Violet’s heart.”
Violet had fixed her dilating melancholy eyes, in which the tears
were fast swelling, upon the old man’s face, and sat leaning her
head upon her hands, bent forward with the deepest attention;
while Katie, arrested suddenly in the very act of balancing herself
upon the little canopy, turned a look of eager interest upon him, till
released by this conclusion she slipped down, and placed herself
very quietly on the fallen tree by his side. In his monotonous, half-
chaunting voice, the old man proceeded.
“The wedding was put off, and naebody kent what for, for Leddy
Violet had a wise heart, and wouldna send him away till she was
sure. But there came a gray-bearded man to the gate in the night,
and asked to see her—what he said nae man kent; but when the
morning broke, Leddy Violet was sitting at her ain window, gripping
her hands fast, with a face as wan as the dead, and the bonnie gold
hair upon her head a’ covered wi’ flakes of white, like snaw. But she
rose up and cried upon her serving-woman, and put on her wedding
gown. It was a’ white and glistening—the auld brocade that you read
about in books, wrought with flowers, and grander than you ever
saw. And then she put her bride’s veil on her head, and went away
with a slow, stately step out of Allenders. The serving-woman in fear
and trembling creepit away after her, hiding under the hedges along
the whole road, and she mindit often that the leddy didna meet a
single living person a’ the way—for she came straight here to the
Lady’s Well.”
With a shiver of excitement and wonder the children looked round
them, and drew closer to Dragon; but the old man went steadily on.
“It was just half-licht, and the woman could see naething but the
leddy, with her grand glistening gown and her veil about her head,
gaun stately alang the quiet road. When she came to the Well, she
sat down upon the stane, and crossed her hands upon her breast,
and droopit her head; but there came a noise of folk upon the road
at that moment, and Leddy Violet’s woman ran to see what it was.
She looked east, and she looked west, but there wasna so much as
a shadow on the haill way; and then she was scared and feared, and
ran without a stop till she wan hame.
But never mortal man saw Leddy Violet mair.”
 “Eh, Dragon! where did she go?” cried Katie Calder under her
breath; but Violet only cast timid looks round her, and almost
thought she could perceive, in the half-light of this other gloaming,
glimmerings of the white garments through the close foliage of the
trees.
“I tell ye, Missie, nae mortal on this earth kens that,” said the
Dragon of Allenders; “but, bairns, ye’ll be getting cauld—and I’ll tell
ye the rest at hame.”
“Oh, Dragon, tell us the rest,” pleaded Violet; but she looked behind
her and before, and almost believed she felt the cold hand of the
weird-lady laid upon her shoulder.
“They sought her up and down through the whole country, but the
wise and auld among them, kent full well that they would never get
her; and from that day to this, nae man has ever seen her, nor kens
if she is dead, and away to heaven, or if she’s living aye a charmed
life in the fairy-land. It’s my hope she’s in heaven this hundred years
—but ane can never tell.”
“And, Dragon, what about Sir Harry?” asked Katie Calder, timidly.
“Sir Hairy was like to gang distraught. He came here and sat upon
that stane, day after day for a whole year; and it was him caused
bring the stane bowl, and pit the carved wark ower the spring; and
at the end of the year he died.
That’s a’ the story, bairns; but, Missie, you that’s fond of ballants,
there’s ane the leddy made, and that her woman heard her rhyming
ower the day she ga’ed away. I have been trying to mind it a’ this
time. It used to have a tune in the country-side. I could ance sing it
grand mysel—and if you’ll be awfu’ quiet, I’ll try—

The night wind rose amang the hills,

But the glen was lown and gray,
When she drew her veil about her head
And went upon her way.
And she has gathered the green willow
 To lay on the threshold stane,
And the yew and the rue in the chalmer of state,
That the house might be kent for desolate
When she was lost and gane.

Oh! father, kindly fare ye well,

Good may your last days be,
And God send your son were hame in peace,
Since ye’ll nae joy in me.
And though ye have made a desert, Harry,
And griefs I mayna tell,
Where ance dwelt mony a pleasant thing,
Yet Harry, fare ye well!

But wae unto the man, Harry,

Within this house shall dwell,
And bears the name that breaks my heart,
Though I say fare ye well!
The night wind cries among the trees,
I ken what words they be,
And I maun hence to bruik your pain,
But wae to him that bears the name
Which is the dead of me.”

It was nearly dark now, and the cracked and quivering voice of age
rung strangely through the night. Violet felt the leaves rustle about
her, and shrank from the elfin touch of the long willow shoots which
thrust themselves into her hand, and cast furtive, timid glances
round, trembling lest she should see the stately white lady, with her
drooped head and her bridal veil, sitting under the trees. Katie was
bolder, and understood the ballad; but Lettie’s attention, constantly
drawn to some imaginary stir among the brushwood, or wandering
reflection on the water, and arrested by the singular ghostly effect of
the old man’s shrill voice and ashy face, failed to make anything of
the verse which ended his story. The water trickled away unseen
under the leaves—the saugh tree turned out its fleecy lining to the
night wind, which began to tremble among its branches—mystic
flutterings shook the long grass and limber brambles—and Lettie sat
on the stone seat where Lady Violet sat before her, and trembled to
her very heart. Little Katie Calder, poking about into the dark
mysterious underwood, felt only a little pleasant thrill of
apprehension, and was not afraid—for Katie could very well trust an
imagination which never had played pranks with her; but an awe of
the dark road home possessed Lettie. She was afraid to remain in
this weird corner, and afraid to go away.
“Mailie’s milkit half an hour since,” said Dragon, getting up with his
usual activity, and shaking the long arms which Violet half suspected
were fastened on with wires, “and the haill house will be asteer
wondering what’s come of us. Bairns, we’ll get our licks if we stay
langer—and I’m wearying for my parritch mysel.”
But Lettie went along the dark lane, under the high hedge, which
might have concealed armies of fairies, and looked behind her with
furtive side-long looks, wistful and afraid. The road was very solitary
and quiet, but now and then a slow footstep advancing out of the
darkness made her heart leap; and even when they had reached
home, Lettie ran, with unnecessary haste, up the dim staircase, and
was glad when bed-time came, and she could lay down her head
and close her eyes. But after all, it was quite unsatisfactory to close
her eyes; and as the room was very dark, Lettie constantly opened
them to cast anxious glances into the corners, and listened with all
her might for the rustling of the lady’s silken gown; but Lady Violet
made no appearance to her little relative, except in dreams.
 CHAPTER XVI.

What strong hand can hold his swift foot back?

shakspeare.

The window is up in Martha’s room, and the sweet morning air

comes in upon you, with a fresh and pleasant abruptness, frank and
simple as the sudden laughter of a child. The stir of early day is
upon all the country without—birds twittering among the wet leaves,
which themselves glisten and tremble in the sun, shaking off the rain
which fell heavily through the night—and far-off footsteps and
voices, echoing over the fields, of rural people at their wholesome
toil. Beside the window, a work-basket stands upon a little table, and
you will wonder when you see it full of the embroidered muslin—the
delicate “opening” at which Martha and Rose were wont to labour. It
is an elaborate collar which Martha holds in her hand, and she is
working at it with silent speed, as she used to do. You would fancy,
to look at her now, that the family change of fortune had brought
little ease to her.
But upon a sofa, at a little distance, Rose, with a fresh morning
face, and pretty muslin gown, is spreading out Harry’s present—the
rich, grave-coloured silk, which has been made into a dress for
Martha. And Martha suffers herself to smile, and says it’s only fault is
that it is too good, and that the bairns will not know her when she
has it on. Katie Calder, at Rose’s side, draws out the folds
reverentially, and says, with awe, under her breath, that it is “awfu’
bonnie;” but Violet sits on the carpet at Martha’s feet, and thinks
about the lady at the well.
For this is a holiday, and the children have no dread of school or
lessons before their unembarrassed eyes. In the next room sits a