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Hollyhock: A Spirit of Mischief, a fiction by L. T. Meade |
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Chapter 11. Soft And Low |
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_ CHAPTER XI. SOFT AND LOW But when Hollyhock went downstairs, dressed so charmingly and with a rich colour in her cheeks, with the sparkle of excitement in her eyes, and when she saw Jasper, Garnet, and the other boys, who all rushed toward her with a cry of delight, she began to enjoy herself once more. Old Duncan was moving about the great hall and whistling gently to himself. 'Soft and low, soft and low. It 's that that does it,' whispered the old man. Then he broke out again in his cracked old tones, 'And for bonnie Annie Laurie I wad lay me doun and dee!' 'Duncan, you might remember that we are in the room,' said Hollyhock. 'To be sure, lassies; and don't ye like the sound o' the grand old tunes and words? Did ye never hear me sing "Roy's Wife o' Aldivalloch"?' 'No; and I don't wish to,' said Hollyhock. 'Well,' said Duncan, who was never put out in his life, 'here are the doggies, poor beasties, and I guess, Miss Hollyhock, you 'll be a sicht better for a little company. I 'm reddin' up the place against the maister's return. Ay, but we 'll hae a happy evenin'. Old times come back again--"Should auld acquaintance be forgot"'---- 'Duncan, you are incorrigible!' But Duncan deliberately winked at Jasper, then at Garnet, then at his beloved Miss Jasmine, and finally catching Delphy in his arms, trotted up and down the great hall with her on his shoulder, while the child shrieked with delight and called him dear, darling old Duncan. At last, however, the hall was in order. The ingle-nook was a blaze of light and cosiness. The boys and girls were chattering as they had never chattered before; and Duncan, assisted by a boy of the name of Rob, who wore the Lennox livery, brought in ponderous trays, which were laid on great tables. These trays contained tea and coffee, scones to make your mouth water, butter arranged like swans swimming in parsley, and shortbread made by that famous cook, old Mrs Duncan, who was also the housekeeper at The Garden. The trays were followed, alas! by the kitchen cat, Jean, who smelt the good things and walked in with her tail very erect, and a look on her face as much as to say, 'I 'm monarch of all I survey!' 'Out you go, Jean!' cried Hollyhock. 'No, Hollyhock, don't be unkind to poor Jean,' said Mrs Constable. 'You were very glad to have her when you were alone. And now listen, my dear; I have something to whisper to you.' Hollyhock dropped Jean, who was immediately snatched up by Gentian. Gentian provided the kitchen cat with a rich mixture of cream, milk, and sugar. She lapped it slowly and gracefully, as all cats will, in front of the ingle-nook, the two great dogs watching her with envious eyes, but not daring to interfere. Mrs Constable, meanwhile, continued to whisper in a distant corner to Hollyhock, 'My darling, I was the first to tell you the great news--I mean with regard to the boys' school, or, as we intend to call it, the Annex. No other child knows of it at present, and no other child knows that you are going to Ardshiel on Monday with your sisters. Now, what I propose is this. You must have a hearty tea and enjoy yourself as much as possible, and then you shall have the great honour of telling the news first about yourself, and then about my boys and the little school, to the others. Only Hollyhock shall tell. There, my pet, kiss me. See how I love you.' 'Oh, you do, and you are a darling,' said Hollyhock, who was keenly gratified by this distinction bestowed upon her. The tea was disposed of with appetite. Never, surely, was there such shortbread eaten before, never such scones partaken of. Notwithstanding her private tea upstairs, Hollyhock was very hungry and happy, and the marked attentions which Jasper paid her gave her intense and unalloyed pleasure. Oh, what a pity he was leaving the school! What a dear boy was this Precious Stone! She even forgot the boy with the blue eyes when she looked at Jasper's honest, manly face. But the best of good teas come to an end. Duncan came in with his soft whisper and gentle words in his cracked old voice, still singing softly, 'Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind?' Hollyhock gave him a haughty glance, but he did not observe it; and Jasper suddenly said, springing to his feet, 'Hurrah, old Duncan! you are the man for me. Let's all sing the jolly old song!' 'But, master,' faltered Duncan, 'I canna sing as once I sang.' Jasper said, 'Nonsense; you forget yourself, Duncan. You lead off, and we 'll begin.' All the children stood up; all the young voices, the middle-aged voice of Mrs Constable, and the aged voice of Duncan brought out the beloved words: 'We twa hae paidl'd in the burn For auld lang syne, my dear,
'Is the choice entirely your own, my child?' said George Lennox. 'Yes, it is. You 'll want me, perhaps, when you haven't got me, but I'm away to school with the others. It's right--it is right.' 'Well, my Hollyhock, I thank you,' said her father. 'I shall miss you, beyond a doubt; but work has set in for me to such an extent that I have no time to attend to you, and your being in the house and uneducated has been a sore trial to me, Holly. You 'll be a good lass at school, my child. You must promise me that.' 'You 'll have a right-down lovely time, Holly,' cried Jasmine. 'Yes, won't she?' echoed Gentian. 'But I haven't told you all the story yet,' said Hollyhock. She suddenly went up to Jasper and took his big hand. 'I was trusted by a lady, whose name I mustn't mention, with another bit of news, Jasper, boy--and, oh! it's sore it makes my heart. You have to go to the lady, Jasper, boy, and so has Garnet, and so has Sapphire, and so have Opal and Emerald. In addition, the boys at Ardshiel are to go to a new Annex--under protest, no doubt; but still it has to be. You 'll be taught by men, my bonnie Precious Stones, and we lassies will have to do with the women folk.' 'Well, this is astounding,' said Jasper. 'Is it true?--Can you explain, Uncle George?' 'Yes, my boy; and I don't think you 'll mind when it's explained to you. The "lady" whom my Hollyhock wouldn't mention is your own mother.' 'Mother!' cried Emerald, in a voice of rapture. 'Eh, mother, I have missed you!' He was only a little fellow--the youngest of the Precious Stones--and he suddenly burst out crying. 'There, now, be a brave lad,' said Mrs Constable. 'No tears, my little son, for they don't become a gentleman. They don't become the son of Major Constable. Ho died fighting for his country, and no son of his and mine should be seen with tears in his eyes. You all do come back to your mummy, my children, and a lot of other boys come as well; and The Paddock is to be partly changed, so that I can mother you, my Emerald, but not teach you--no, no, none of that. There 'll be that fine gentleman, the Reverend James Cadell, to put Latin and Greek into you; and there'll be Alan Anderson to teach you games, as boys should play them; and there 'll be young Mr Maclure to help him with your English and your lessons all round. I 'll have my five Precious Stones sleeping again under my roof; and your food will be prepared by that maid of ours, Alison, of whom you have always been so fond; and old Mrs Cheke will be the housekeeper and look after your wants. And for foreign languages Mrs Macintyre will send over at certain hours each day some of her governesses. Now then, children, I think we are all going to be as happy as happy. It was decided by a wise woman that Mrs Macintyre's mixed school would eventually prove a mistake, for a good many mothers object to sending their girls to such places, although I myself see no harm in them whatsoever. But, my dear boys, we must think of Mrs Macintyre, who will have a very large school of girls. On Monday next you will see many new faces at Ardshiel, and the arrangement that you, my little loves, are to spend Saturday till Monday all together is to continue. So now do let us sing a fresh song of that wondrous bard, Robbie Burns, because I feel so absolutely Scots of the Scots to-day that I simply cannot stand any one else. 'Ca' the yowes to the knowes, We'll gae down by Clouden side, 'Yonder Clouden's silent towers, 'Ghaist nor bogle shalt thou fear; Fair and lovely as thou art, 'While waters wimple to the sea, 'Oh, mother, mother!' cried one boy after another, as they clustered round her, 'indeed we are happy now, since you are the "lady."' 'We didn't rightly understand at first,' continued Jasper.--'But come for a walk, Hollyhock; come along; I have a lot to say to you.' So Hollyhock and Jasper went out together into the old grounds in the old way, and the sweet, yet sorrowful, week--so maddening to poor Hollyhock, so joyous to Jasper--was forgotten in the spirit of reunion. Oh, it was perfect for the Flower Girl to be with her precious Precious Stone again, and she even loved his dear Scots ways so much that she told him of her little adventure as a 'great secret,' and besought of him not to mention it to any one. 'And so you were taken with that English boy Ivor Chetwode,' he remarked. 'I didn't think you were so fickle. But it's all right now, Hollyhock, and you 'll have a right jolly time at the school.' _ |
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