Huntingtower

et. It was the Poet who had insisted upon this walk, and he had his own purpose. They looked at the spires of smoke piercing the windless air, and studi

re Heritage's music waxed peculiarly loud. Presently from the yard, unshav

et. "I hope the sickness in

in the man's heavy face there was little civil

road again. I'm jolly glad we spent the night

Whereabouts

but we didn't want to fuss an old lady, so we thoug

on him like a searchlight. They roused antagonism in his peaceful soul, and with that antagonism ca

urned on

e ye for

. He was still determined to shake t

l have a fine walk. I must go in and see about

illage street again, "is the first step in

nable lie," said

he night here, and now Dobson and his friends can get about their day's work with an e

coming

By 'we' I refer to mysel

she set the porridge on the table. "This gentleman has just

ildered. Then the corners of her prim

ne. But if ye're my nevoy ye'll hae to keep up

ne of it. "Ye're no' awa' yet," she said tartly, and the matter was complicated by Heritage's refusal to take part in the debate. He sto

he morning was fine, the keen air invited to high spirits, plovers piped entrancingly over the bent and linnets sang in the whins, there was a solid breakfast behind him, and the promise of a cheerful road till luncheon. The stage was set for good humour, but Dickson's heart, which should have been ascending with the larks, stuck leadenly in his boots. He was not even relieved at putting Dalquharter behind him. The atmosphere o

al emerged. A barefoot boy, dressed in much the same parody of a Boy Scout's uniform, but with corduroy shorts instead of a kilt, stood before him at rigid attention. Some command was issued, the child

rs with the condescension of

Lean followed ye till ye were out o' sight o' the houses, and syne Lean got a spy-glass and watched ye till the road turned in among

eckonissince mysel' this morning. I was up at the Hoose afore it was light, and tried the door o' t

ned. Was the in

oceeded to make marks with the stump of a carpenter's pencil. "See here," he commanded. "There's the glass place wi' a door into the Hoose. That door must be open or the lassie must have the key, for she comes there whenever she likes. Now, at each end o' the place the doors are lockit, but the front that looks on the garden is

imb it?" Her

doubt if auld McCunn could get up. Ye'd have to be mighty carefu' that nobody s

eritage. "We'll t

intolerable. Once again he was at the parting of the ways, and once more caprice determined his decision. That the coal-hole was out of the question had

g with you

aid the Chieftain of the Gorbals Die-Hards. Dickson's quaking heart experience

ing water, now high upon the bank so that clear sky showed through the

rabbits.... Then we must ford the water, for ye'll no' cross it lower down where it's deep.... Our road is on the Hoose side o' the Dean and it's awfu' public if there's onybody on the other side, tho

nly have fallen in had not Dougal plunged into the current and steadied him with a grimy hand. The leap was at last successfully taken, and the three scrambled up a rough scaur, all reddened with iron springs, till they struck a slender track running down the

ered. "The tinklers are eatin' their breakfast. They're

an to widen into its estuary, a group of figures round a small fire. There were four of them, all men, and Dickson thought he had never seen such ruffianly-lookin

lates, till it reached the waters of the small haven, which lay calm as a mill-pond in the windless forenoon. The haven broadened out at its foot and revealed a segment of blue sea. The o

little cover her

s no' like there's anybody watchin' from the Hoose. The danger is somebody on the other

ed with a hopeful report. "I think we're safe, till we get into the policies. There's a road that the auld folk made when ships us

tingtower on the short thymy turf which ran seaward to the cliffs. Dougal led them along a sunk fence which divided the downs from the lawns behind the house, and, avoiding the stables, brought them by devious ways to a thicket of rhododendrons and broom. On all fours they travelled the length

plants, rose to a long verandah, which was pillared and open on that side; but at each end built up half-way

are to try that wall, I must ken where Lean and Spittal and Dobson are. I'm o

owing old, and there was no rebound in his soul to counter the conviction. He felt listless, spiritless-an apathy with fright trembling somewhere at the back of it. He regarded the verandah wall with foreboding. How on earth cou

d cheered him, for he was growing very hungry, and he began to take an interest in the scene before him instead of his own thoughts. He observed every detail of the veran

? He kept his eyes on the ground and seemed to be talking to himself as he went, but he was alert enough, for the dropping of a twig from a dying magnolia transferred him in an instant into a figure of active vigilance. No risks could be run with that watcher. He t

st front of the House till he was lost to sight. After that the time passed slowly. A pair of yellow wagtails arrived and played at hide-and-seek among the stuccoed pillars. The little dry sc

-that he could tell, tall and slim and very young. Her face was turned seaward, and she stood for a little scanning the broad channel, shading her eyes as if to search for something on the extreme h

oved one doubt. That bright exotic thing did not belong to the Cruives or to Scotland at all, and that she shou

ry face of Dougal appeared. He lay between the other t

nd went off to Auchenlochan. I seen them pass the Garple bri

said Heritage, consu

s splittin' firewood at the back door o' his hoose.... I've found a ladder, an auld yin in ahint

ugal went up first, then Heritage, and lastly Dickson, stiff and giddy from his long lie under the bushes. Below the parapet the verandah floor was heaped with old garden litter, rotten matting, dead or derelict bulbs, fibre, withies and strawber

pturned pot-plants, so that a cactus ticked his brow and a spike of aloe supported painfully the back of his neck. Heritage was prone behind two old water-butts, and Dougal was in a hamper w

of his face, thought he looked both evil and furious. Then came some anxious moments, for had the man glanced back when he was once outside, he must

pull up the ladder and stow it away. "We've got the place to oursels, now. For

into a huge murky hall, murky, for the windows were shuttered, and the only light came through things like port-holes far up in the wall. Dougal, who seemed to know his way about, halted them. "Stop here till I scout a bit. The women bide in a wee room through that muckle door." Bare feet stol

y kettle o' fish," he whispered. "They're both gree

indows were partially shuttered, but it had plainly been a smoking-room, for there were pipe-racks by the hearth, and on the walls a number of old school and college photographs, a couple of oars with emblazoned names, and a variety of stags' and roebucks' heads. There was n

remember a forgotten lesson. One hand clutched a handkerchief, the other was closing and unclosing on a knob of the chair back. She was staring at Dou

e, Mademoiselle," he said. "Do you remember Easte

l looke

member," she

apartments on the floor below you. I saw yo

she asked, with a n

-till the w

hy have you

need it. If not, to ask

reign tongue which Dickson suspected of being French. Heritage replied in the same la

ou will trust us we will

ud exquisite eyebrows. The eyes were of a colour which he could never decide on; afterwards he used to allege obscurely that they were the colour of everything in Spring. There was a delicate pallor in the cheeks, and the face bore signs of suffering and care, possibly even of hunger; but for all that there was you

be shot with humour. A ghost of a smile lurked there, to

t you, Mem. I'm Mr.

en know my na

t," said

cousin Eugènie.... We are in very great trouble. But why

that boy. You are imprisoned in this place by scoundrels. We are here to he

oung man-an old man-and a little boy. There are m

and Dobson and four tinklers in the Dean-that's seven; but t

the boy's truculent c

id, and her eyes f

t impelled

untry and the law doesn't permit that. My advice is for one of us to inform the police at Auchenlochan and get Dobson and his friends took

d. "I dare not invoke your English law, for

bad business," said

and the elder appeared to be pleading and the younge

any dream and yet lived, but I have paid a price for such experience. First I went to Italy where there were friends, and I wished only to have peace among kindly people. About poverty I do not care, for, to us, who have lost all the great things, the want of bread is a little matter. But peace was forbidden me, for I learned that we Russians had to

certain foreign precision. Suddenly she chan

o Dickson. "It is among the greatest in Russia, the ve

e. You good people in England think they are well-meaning dreamers who are forced into violence by the persecution of Western Europe. But you are wrong. Some honest fools there are among the

which Dickson never forgot, the look of one who ha

help of the law-first in Italy and then in France. Oh, it was subtly done. Respectable bourgeois, who hated the Bolsheviki but had bought long ago the bonds of my country, desired to be repaid their debts out of the property of the Russian Crown which might be found in the West. But behind them were the Jews, and behind the Jews our unsleeping enemies. Once I was enmeshed in the law I wo

r from whispering to Heritage an extract from that gentleman's conversation the first night at Kirkmichael. "We needn't imitate all the

id you come he

we Russians were still a nation. I saw him again in Italy, and since he was kind and brave I told him some part of my troubles. He was called Quentin Kennedy, and now he is dead. He told me that in Scotland he had a lonely chateau where I could hide secretly and safely, and against the day when I might be har

s name?" He

Loudon-L-O-U-D-O-N in th

said Dickson.

e me, but another letter saying that that night a carriage would be in waiting to bring me here. It was midnight when we arrived, and

ritage. "Dobson o

her's service till he joined the Bolsheviki. Next day the Lett Spidel came, and I knew that I wa

ide; and her slim figure in its odd clothes was curiously like that of a boy in a school blazer. Another resemblance

I don't think I quite understand. T

no

chenlochan? You had no chance to hide them on the journey. Why did they

erhaps, that Spidel had not arrived that night

villains than I take them to be, or there is something deeper i

us. Then she saw that in his face which reassured her. "I have

searched

first I disobeyed there was always one of them in wait to force me back with a pistol behind my head. Every morning Léon brings us food for the day-good food, but not enough, so that Cousin Eugènie is always hungr

s!" Dickson

shedding blood as of spilling water. But I do not think he will kill me. I think I will

for he could not treat it as mere melodrama. It carried a horri

o meet me here. He is a kinsman who knows England well, for he fought in your army.

more which you haven't

of a blush on her cheek? "Ther

"Alexis" and a word which sounded like "prance." The Poet

yellow beard, who bears himself proudly. Bei

me about yesterday," said Douga

y came here last night. When did

coming that terrifies me. I must wait and hope. But i

are not all the enemi

l I know he is here I do not greatly fear Spidel

e dark. The girl lit a lamp after first shuttering the rest of the windows. As she turned it up the odd dusty room and its strange company were

claim the protection of the law. You are very independent, Mademoiselle, but it can't go on for ev

solemn trust, but they burden me terribly. If I were only rid of the

osited in a bank and take a receipt for them. A Scotch bank is no' in

smack. "That's an idea. Will you trust us t

d on each of the trio in turn. "I will trust you,"

ou march off to Glasgow in double quick time and place the stuff in you

the thought that miscreants should acquire that to which they had no title; but mainly it was the appeal in those haggard childish eyes. "But I'm no

they?" Heri

tell. But I w

pped in leather and tied with thongs of raw hide. She gave them to Heritag

they are, and, please God, when the moment comes they will be

ou from my heart, my friends." She held out a hand to

await developments," he said. "We had

p, Mem," he observed. "There's a better time coming." His last recollection of her eyes was of a soft mistiness not far from te

for that would bring us by the public-house. If the worst comes to the worst, and we fall in wi

he escape the notice of the watchers? He was already suspect, and the sight of him back again in Dalquharter would double that suspicion. He must brazen it out, but he distrusted his powers with such tell-tale stuff in his pockets. They might murder him anywhere on the moor road or in an empty railway carriage. An unpleasant memory of various novels he had read in which such things happened haunted his mind.... There was ju

er one or two plunges into ditches, landed him safely in Mrs. Morran's back yard. Dickson and Dougal crossed the bridge and tramped Dalquharter-wards by the highway. There was no sign of human life in that quiet place with owls

should be a muckle star there, and when you ca

r?" Dicks

it? O'Brien?" And he pointed to where the constellation of

d like a weasel into a bush, and presently Dickson stood revealed in the glare of a lamp. The horse was pull

voice. "Oh, you! I thou

e nobly to

nd I took a fancy to come back and spend the last night of my holid

ever saw ye on the Auchenlochan road,

d took it easy a

Well, good-n

s. Morran's kitchen, where Heritage was b

"I want you to loan me a wee trunk with a key, and ste