Bret Harte

“ Although a countrywoman, her name might not be so well known to him as those of her “old friends” Harry Custer, Esq., and Sir Malcolm McHulish. The consul was a little surprised; the use of the title—unless it referred to some other McHulish—would seem to indicate that Malcolm’s claim was successful. He had, however, no previous knowledge of the title of “Sir” in connection with the estate, and it was probable that his fair correspondent—like most of her countrywomen—was more appreciative than correct in her bestowal of dignities. ”

“ He was not quite sure, either, that his previous antagonism to his fair countrywoman’s apparent selfishness and snobbery was entirely just. He had been absent from America a long time; perhaps it was he himself who had changed, and lost touch with his compatriots. And yet the demonstrative independence and recklessness of men like Custer were less objectionable to, and less inconsistent with, his American ideas than the snobbishness and almost servile adaptability of the women. ”

“ Yet, nevertheless, he would be even more explicit.
“I do not know,” he began, “whether this young McHulish confided to you his great reliance upon some peculiar effect of his presence among the tenants, and of establishing his claim to the property by exciting the enthusiasm of the clan. It certainly struck me that he had some rather exaggerated ideas, borrowed, perhaps, from romances he’d read, like Don Quixote his books of chivalry. He seems to believe in the existence of a clan loyalty, and the actual survival of old feudal instincts and of old feudal methods in the Highlands. ”

“ The consul was obliged again to protest that in so short an interview he had been unable to conceive of Malcolm’s good fortune.
“I know what you mean,” said the girl lightly. “You think he’s a crank. But it’s all over now; the engagement’s off.”
“I trust that this does not mean that you doubt his success?”
The lady shrugged her shoulders disdainfully. “That’s all right enough, I reckon. There’s a hundred thousand dollars in the syndicate. Maw put in twenty thousand, and Custer’s bound to make it go—particularly as there’s some talk of a compromise. ”

“ It would have been so perfectly easy for a wealthy syndicate to buy up a much more valuable estate. He disbelieved utterly in the sincerity of Malcolm’s sentimental attitude. There must be some other reason—perhaps not known even to the syndicate.
One day he thought that he had found it. He had received a note addressed from one of the principal hotels, but bearing a large personal crest on paper and envelope. A Miss Kirkby, passing through St. Kentigern on her way to Edinburgh, desired to see the consul the next day, if he would appoint an hour at the consulate ”

“ Nevertheless, the consul, with an amused sense of its ridiculous incongruity to the grim Scottish Sabbath procession in the street, and the fog-bound volumes of admiralty law in the room, smiled affably.
“Of course our young friend has no desire to test the magic of his name here, in these degenerate days.”
“No,” said Custer complacently; “though between you and me, old man, there’s always no tellin’ what might turn up over in this yer monarchy. Things of course are different over our way. But jest now Malcolm will be satisfied to take the title and property to which he’s rightful heir.” ”

“ Consul, that a great many of your countrymen are doing the same. Eh, yours is a gran’ country of progress and ceevel and religious liberty, but for a’ that, as Burns says, it’s in your blood to turn to the auld home again. And it’s a fine thing to have the money to do it—and, I’m thinking, money well spent all around. Good morning. Eh, but I’m forgetting that I wanted to ask you to dine with me and Malcolm, and your Mr. Custer, and Mr. Watson, who will be one of your syndicate, and whom I once met abroad. ”

“ The syndicate will be rich, eh? And I’m not saying the McHulish would n’t take Kentucky lands in exchange. It’s a fine country, that blue-grass district.”
The consul stared at Sir James so long that a faint smile came into the latter’s shrewd eyes; at which the consul smiled, too. A vague air of relief and understanding seemed to fill the apartment.
“Oh, aye,” continued Sir James, drawing on his gloves with easy deliberation, “he’s a fine lad that Malcolm, and it’s a praiseworthy instinct in him to wish to return to the land of his forebears, and take his place again among them. ”

“ Sir James resumed his slow serenity, and gathered up his gloves. “Aye, there’s a great deer-forest in Ballochbrinkie, and there’s part of Loch Phillibeg in Cairngormshire, and there’s Kelpie Island off Moreovershire. Aye, there’s enough land when the crofters are cleared off, and the small sheep-tenants evicted. It will be a grand property then.”
The consul stared. “The crofters and tenants evicted!” he repeated. “Are they not part of the clan, and loyal to the McHulish?”
“The McHulish,” said Sir James with great deliberation, “has n’t set foot there for years. ”

“ Luckily, maw had the gumption to get Watson to write over about it to one of his friends, a Mr—Mr—MacFen, a very prominent man.”
“Perhaps you mean Sir James MacFen,” suggested the consul. “He’s a knight. And what did he say?” he added eagerly.
“Oh, he wrote a most sensible letter,” returned the lady, apparently mollified by the title of Watson’s adviser, “saying that there was little doubt, if any, that if the American McHulishes wanted the old estate they could get it by the expenditure of a little capital. He offered to make the trial; that was the compromise they ’re talking about. ”

“ To his surprise Custer leaned forward and pressed his hand with an expression of cheerful relief. “That’s so, old pard; I reckoned on it. In fact, I told Malcolm that that would be about your gait. Of course you could n’t do otherwise. And it would have been playin’ it rather low down on you to have left you out in the cold–without even that show in the game. For what you will do in warnin’ the other fellows, don’t you see, will just waken up the clan. It’s better than a campaign circular.”
“Don’t be too sure of that,” said the consul, with a half-hysterical laugh. ”

“ Now, my dear friend, is there really any property, land, or title of any importance involved in his claim, and what and where, in Heaven’s name, is it? For I assure you I know nothing practical about it, and cannot make head or tail of it. ”

“ Custer—he’s a grand man, and an amusing one. Ye ’ll be great comrades, you and he! Man! it was delightful to hear him tell of the rare doings and the bit fun ye two had in the old times. Eh, sir, but who’d think that of the proper American consul at St. Kentigern!” And Sir James leaned back in his chair, and bestowed an admiring smile on that official.
The consul thought he began to understand this evasion. “Then you don’t think much of Mr. McHulish’s claim?” ”

“ She was young, pretty, and tastefully dressed; the national feminine adaptability had not, however, extended to her voice and accent. Both were strongly Southwestern, and as she began to speak she seemed to lose her momentary affectation. ”

“ Surely I have misunderstood you. You cannot be in earnest.”
“Honest Injun,” said Custer, nodding his head lazily. “We mean it, but not jest that way you ’ve put it. F’r instance, it ain’t only us two. This yer thing, ole pard, we ’re runnin’ as a syndicate.”
“A syndicate?” echoed the consul.
“A syndicate,” repeated Custer. “Half the boys that were at Eagle Camp are in it, and two of Malcolm’s neighbors from Kentucky—the regular old Scotch breed like himself; for you know that MacCorkle County was settled by them old Scotch Covenanters, and the folks are Scotch Presbyterians to this day. ”