Ethel Watts Mumford

“ LORD LOVALL STUART McCAMMERON of Abernethy and Lochan, was a grand golfer—"gowfer," he pronounced it, with a wonderful rounded "ow." He was sixty-five years old, stood six feet six in his spiked heather-brogues, and his temper was as short as his stroke was long and his accent broad. He was the admiration and terror of all the links from John o' Groat's to "Killiecrankie," and body and soul he owned "Wully" Forsythe, the only caddie to survive his fierce czarship of "the Game of Kings."
In his tyrannical way the old man loved the boy. It was his one concession to human weakness. ”

“ Without a doubt, to polish the golf bells of Scotland was a privilege, and meet for brag when one should be once again among the heather hills. But six months with a tooth-brush and silver powder!—when the open heath called, and the cloud shadows raced each other across bunker and tee—! Wully swallowed a sigh—a king may sigh at his coronation for thought of schoolboy freedom. There may have been a regret in his master's heart as well, for while the exhibition lasted the links would call in vain. ”

“ On no one in particular could he cast suspicion; a score of men could not collectively steal two golf bells. But he was responsible. His trust was broken. He could not hope that the theft would pass unnoticed. Yet to report the loss was to shame himself forever and cast suspicion upon twenty men sure to bitterly resent the imputation—it was a case of devil and deep sea.
Then Lord Lovall had an inspiration. He would replace the missing tokens. To have them fashioned in Glasgow was out of the question. The whole of Scotland would inevitably and literally ring with the scandal. ”

“ His lordship, in spite of his relief, made a mental note against his freckled squire. Wully should have noticed the loss. His work must be heedless, indeed, if he failed to note the absence of two of his sacred charges.
With his substitutes in his overcoat pocket, their tinkling voices gagged by bits of paper, the miserable custodian of Scotland's most honorable relics retraced his way to Glasgow. With furtive eyes he watched for a chance to replace the lost bells. All day he hovered guiltily at a distance from the case that drew him like a magnet. ”

“ Wully's eyes almost popped from their tawny-lashed sockets as the keys of the cases were turned over to his master. For upon him would devolve the dusty honor of polishing these honored relics during the long months the exhibition would last. And as he looked at the serried ranks of silver his heart misgave him. There must be a million bells. It seemed impossible that all the golf associations of Scotland together for two hundred years could have accumulated such a collection. But the pride in his lordship's eyes brought an answering glow to his squire's. ”

“ His lordship followed his caddie with love and pain, fury and fear at his heart, for what could a country-bred lad be doing in this city reek; a lad with his keep well doled him at the best hotel in Glasgow? The old man's heart bled with apprehension.
Wully turned in at the door of a gaunt building, black with the damps of centuries of Scotch fog, and hurried up flight after flight of stone steps in a passage as cold and clammy as a vault. His lordship followed. ”

“ He cursed himself for giving the boy no pocket-money. He paid his expenses, bought his clothes, threw him a tip at rare intervals; but had Wully any wants outside the round of his daily tasks, they must, perforce, have gone unsatisfied. His miserable benefactor controlled an impulse to offer the lad an allowance. First he must learn if it were, indeed, Wully who had committed the unspeakable theft. Were they not joint custodians of the bells, their honor jointly at stake? For such a crime there could be no forgiveness. ”

“ But the surprising thing was her interest in golf. As a rule, the women enthusiasts were gowned in tweed, well-set-up, outstriding females, with open-air manners. This was no wielder of the brassy; she was too slow of movement, too weak, too gentle. Then, too, she brought the baby when she haunted the exhibition. The baby was a strapping, solid person, who looked as if, given time and opportunity, he might achieve first-class caddiehood. The lady made Wully's acquaintance and asked him a thousand questions. She was more interested than all the tweeded champions. ”

“ Not one showed evidence of guilt or concealed amusement. The Chief of Abernethy and Lochan descended to eavesdropping, to cat-footed trailing—all to no purpose. And then, four days after his return from hated London, the sword of Fate fell once more. The first and second bells were removed from the Cullam stick!
His brain whirling, the harassed custodian staggered to the directors' room. They dared to play with him! with him—the ferocious, fear-compelling, unforgiving Lovall Stuart McCammeron, whom no one in all the golfing shires dared so much as contradict! ”

“ It's the Lord's doin', I'm thinkin'."
"Tell his aunt, the widow Forres," suggested Hepsey. "She'll send for the lad, and then ye can win him to it, he's as soft as a girl. Get him tae greet over Ann Linsey, an' yer got him. Auch, ay," she sighed, and took up the basket and went her way.
Thus it came about that Wully was sent for. Very flattered he was when the two great men of the village made much of him, assured him that he alone could be trusted with the all-important communication, complimented him on holding his unique position of caddie for well over a year ”

“ She passed him, eying him curiously and with trepidation—they send big men to collect the rents in such human hives. Impassive as Fate the grim intruder mounted the worn stone stairs and stood silent and tense on the last landing. ”