第30章 THREE IS COMPANY, AND FOUR NONE(3)

'Well,' said she, 'at this rate the matter may be feasible.I will cash one of these five-guinea bills, less the exchange, and give you silver and Scots notes to bear you as far as the border.

Beyond that, Mosha the Viscount, you will have to depend upon yourself.'

I could not but express a civil hesitation as to whether the amount would suffice, in my case, for so long a journey.

'Ay,' said she, 'but you havenae heard me out.For if you are not too fine a gentleman to travel with a pair of drovers, I believe I have found the very thing, and the Lord forgive me for a treasonable old wife! There are a couple stopping up by with the shepherd-man at the farm; to-morrow they will take the road for England, probably by skriegh of day - and in my opinion you had best be travelling with the stots,' said she.

'For Heaven's sake do not suppose me to be so effeminate a character!' I cried.'An old soldier of Napoleon is certainly beyond suspicion.But, dear lady, to what end? and how is the society of these excellent gentlemen supposed to help me?'

'My dear sir,' said she, 'you do not at all understand your own predicament, and must just leave your matters in the hands of those who do.I dare say you have never even heard tell of the drove-

roads or the drovers; and I am certainly not going to sit up all night to explain it to you.Suffice it, that it is me who is arranging this affair - the more shame to me! - and that is the way ye have to go.Ronald,' she continued, 'away up-by to the shepherds; rowst them out of their beds, and make it perfectly distinct that Sim is not to leave till he has seen me.'

Ronald was nothing loath to escape from his aunt's neighbourhood, and left the room and the cottage with a silent expedition that was more like flight than mere obedience.Meanwhile the old lady turned to her niece.

'And I would like to know what we are to do with him the night!'

she cried.

'Ronald and I meant to put him in the hen-house,' said the encrimsoned Flora.

'And I can tell you he is to go to no such a place,' replied the aunt.'Hen-house, indeed! If a guest he is to be, he shall sleep in no mortal hen-house.Your room is the most fit, I think, if he will consent to occupy it on so great a suddenty.And as for you, Flora, you shall sleep with me.'

I could not help admiring the prudence and tact of this old dowager, and of course it was not for me to make objections.Ere I well knew how, I was alone with a flat candlestick, which is not the most sympathetic of companions, and stood studying the snuff in a frame of mind between triumph and chagrin.All had gone well with my flight: the masterful lady who had arrogated to herself the arrangement of the details gave me every confidence; and I saw myself already arriving at my uncle's door.But, alas! it was another story with my love affair.I had seen and spoken with her alone; I had ventured boldly; I had been not ill received; I had seen her change colour, had enjoyed the undissembled kindness of her eyes; and now, in a moment, down comes upon the scene that apocalyptic figure with the nightcap and the horse-pistol, and with the very wind of her coming behold me separated from my love!

Gratitude and admiration contended in my breast with the extreme of natural rancour.My appearance in her house at past midnight had an air (I could not disguise it from myself) that was insolent and underhand, and could not but minister to the worst suspicions.And the old lady had taken it well.Her generosity was no more to be called in question than her courage, and I was afraid that her intelligence would be found to match.Certainly, Miss Flora had to support some shrewd looks, and certainly she had been troubled.I could see but the one way before me: to profit by an excellent bed, to try to sleep soon, to be stirring early, and to hope for some renewed occasion in the morning.To have said so much and yet to say no more, to go out into the world upon so half-hearted a parting, was more than I could accept.

It is my belief that the benevolent fiend sat up all night to baulk me.She was at my bedside with a candle long ere day, roused me, laid out for me a damnable misfit of clothes, and bade me pack my own (which were wholly unsuited to the journey) in a bundle.Sore grudging, I arrayed myself in a suit of some country fabric, as delicate as sackcloth and about as becoming as a shroud; and, on coming forth, found the dragon had prepared for me a hearty breakfast.She took the head of the table, poured out the tea, and entertained me as I ate with a great deal of good sense and a conspicuous lack of charm.How often did I not regret the change!

- how often compare her, and condemn her in the comparison, with her charming niece! But if my entertainer was not beautiful, she had certainly been busy in my interest.Already she was in communication with my destined fellow-travellers; and the device on which she had struck appeared entirely suitable.I was a young Englishman who had outrun the constable; warrants were out against me in Scotland, and it had become needful I should pass the border without loss of time, and privately.

'I have given a very good account of you,' said she, 'which I hope you may justify.I told them there was nothing against you beyond the fact that you were put to the haw (if that is the right word)

for debt.'

'I pray God you have the expression incorrectly, ma'am,' said I.

'I do not give myself out for a person easily alarmed; but you must admit there is something barbarous and mediaeval in the sound well qualified to startle a poor foreigner.'