Gordon Stables

“ Hallo! Lotty has gone bounding past Antony to meet some one, her face transformed. No sadness now; only daft mirth and merriment, her arms extended, her curls anyhow all over her face and neck. A scream of delight, and next moment two very young and beautiful persons are rolling together on the half-withered grass.
One is Lotty, the other is Wallace her Newfoundland. Jet black is he all over, like the wings of Crona's raven—jet black, save for the glitter of his bonny eyes, the pink of his tongue, and alabaster flash of his marvellous teeth. ”

“ But young folks like Lotty, who have come through the hard, do often wonder to themselves what will become of them in after years. And this gipsy lass had been so happy ever since Frank Antony had arrived in camp that the very thought of his going away and being to her as if he had never come to cheer her and make the days seem all too short, was one which loomed before her like a big dark cloud which ere long must engulf her, and from which her sun of life might never emerge. No wonder, then, that as she thought of this she shed bitter tears that morning on the moor. ”

“ But I cried for Chops.'
'And who is Chops, Lotty?'
'Oh, Chops is the fat boy; he is a property himself, but nobody could waste him.'
'No?'
'No; and Chops is fifteen, you know, and so good and so fond of me; but he is so fat that he can't look at you, only just blinks over his cheeks. But Chops is so kind to me—quite loves me. And so does Wallace. But I love Wallace better than anybody else, and everybody else loves Wallace.'
'And Wallace and everybody love Lotty, I'm sure of that.'
'Oh, Wallace loves me, and would die for me any day. But, of course, everybody doesn't. ”

“ I dare say if Gustie gets in—and he is fool enough to be in Parliament—it will be father's money that will put him there.
'I am sitting in my caravan, Aggie, or, rather, on the back-steps, in true Romany rye fashion, as idle as a painted ship upon a painted thingummy. Out yonder is the blue sea, dear, only it is green to-day, with white foam-flakes here and there, for a glorious spanking breeze is blowing. But there isn't a sail to spank, Aggie. And that sea is just like your brother's mind at present—vacant, a glorious green vacuum. I know, sister mine, that nature abhors a vacuum. ”

“ That is what he said to his sister Aggie when he wrote and told her all about the events of this fearful night. He first went back towards his caravan, closely followed by Wallace, who appeared to watch his every movement, certain in his canine mind that Antony would do something to find his mistress. For a master stands in the place of a god to his faithful dog, and the latter believes him omnipotent. Hardly knowing what he did, he lit the great lamps, and through their dark-crimson shades their light streamed like blood across the sand and on the surf. ”

“ That bow itself was worth more than many a good violin would fetch in the market.
The child smiled when she took this baby of hers out of its velvet-lined bassinet. She looked for a moment at her left-hand finger-tips as if to make sure the nails were correctly trimmed, then glanced at the fire as if fearful that a piece of coal might tumble out and dust arise. And now with exquisite tenderness she drew the bow across the strings before adjusting them to tune. Every string that Lotty possessed was well stretched before being tried, so that there was seldom much to do in the tuning way. ”

“ Not far in the rear was the beautiful little 'Silver Queen,' the fat lady looking ever so pleasant as she drove the one willing horse with his glittering harness all decked out in polished brass. This caravan was called the 'Silver Queen' because, for lightness' sake, much of her outside was built of aluminium, and its sheen on this bright January morning was, like stars on the sea, resplendent. Behind her, on a rocking-chair, sat Lotty herself, quietly knitting. ”

“ Then during winter, though oak and elm and mountain ash are leafless and bare in the valleys, meadows are green, and if not borne down by a weight of frozen snow the pine-trees wave dark and glorious in the forests that clothe the hills and braes; and though lochs or lakes may be ice-bound, they afford opportunities for many a roaring game, and become for weeks at a time the paradise of the skater. But, more betoken, the rivers, which were high before the frost fell, became streams of fairy-like beauty, and the waterfalls were dream-like in their silent silver sheen. ”

“ Nevertheless, his somewhat dull eyes sparkled with delight, and his face became transformed, in a manner of speaking, when he found that he could give Lotty information and interest her in things. Beauty has a wonderful power if it be beauty of the right sort, consisting not merely in a lovely complexion, eyes, hair, and features, and a nice figure, but all these etherealised—nay, but glorified—by refinement, intellect, and innocence. Such a child as Lotty, wholly insensible of the charm that surrounded her, was likely to, and did, make friends wherever she went. ”

“ Fastidious, indeed, would he have been who could not listen to-night with pleasure to the music this infant prodigy elicited from her favourite instrument.
But part of Lotty's power to please lay in the fact that she never played much on any evening, having apparently a latent dread of tiring an audience. To-night, at all events, Antony was not tired; in fact, he could have sat and listened to the sweet strains until long past midnight. And, oh! methinks that if harps are twanged as angels sing in heaven, the violin itself must lead. ”

“ Even the spray that dashed inboard fell rattling on the skylights like hail, and sometimes quite a little snowstorm raged on the deck, the powdery snow forming into small, shapely drifts against the coiled ropes or the green-painted lower bulwarks.
For the first day or two Ben appeared shy and half-afraid of Lotty. To him she was a being from another world, such as he had only read of in fairy-story books. But he soon got over his timidity, and was bent apparently on becoming her slave, was pleased to explain things to her, and assist her in every way his somewhat slow nature might suggest. ”

“ At one side of the tree-bridge was a rail, and it was pretty dark by the time Lotty had her hand on it. And she was pausing here for a moment to listen to the gurgling song of the brooklet, and also to hear if Chops was coming. Chops always whistled to keep his courage up when coming through this wood at night. But she could not hear him, nor did Wallace, else he would have barked a half-hysterical bark of joy. ”

“ Chops opened the basket. Here were all the morning scraps from the camp, enough to feed a thousand wild-birds, and down they now crowded, swaying and screaming around the maiden as she tossed the pieces in every direction of the compass, that all might have a share. Among them were many of her own particular favourites or pets, and they had special tit-bits which they took from her hands or shoulders and even from her lips. But not all sea-gulls were they, for a sprinkling of rooks flew amongst them, and even warty-headed old carrion-crows and hoodies. ”

“ No matter how good and generous one is in this world, nor how much good he or she does, people will be ungrateful. But set the stone of gossip or scandal a-rolling, and see if it doesn't gather moss. From being a man who had sustained severe losses, Biffins Lee was soon exalted to the dignity of a nobleman in disguise only amusing himself with keeping a show until such time as he could arise in all his strength and glory to sweep from its false foundation one of the highest aristocratic families in Britain. ”

“ Lotty was not an affected child; perhaps in culling the bouquet she hardly knew what she was doing; only beauty is ever attracted by beauty and to it.
See yonder great velvet droning bee. Fox-glove-bells are swinging crimson against the green of tall fern-leaves. He enters a bell to drink of the honey. Beauty to beauty. And yonder again a splendid steel-blue, gauzy-winged dragon-fly has alighted on a pink bramble-blossom, and is trembling all over with the joy that is in him ”

“ No, the sea must be the same, and yet it awakened less response,{237} less sympathy, in the heart of the little gipsy lass.
Towards the forest, where she went wandering away alone with Wallace, because she wanted to think, things seemed strangely altered somehow. Was the moss that carpeted the beech-woods less soft and bright, or the bark of the birch-trees less snowy? Were the clouds of needled foliage on the brown-stemmed pines more black and solemn, and had the tasselled larches with buds of crimson lost already their spring-green tints? And where was the glory of the golden furze? ”

“ She went round, too, with the greatest caution; and sometimes, had she not been one of the strongest girls for her age that ever swung an Indian club, her boat-sail would have defeated her. She always kept her craft well trimmed, and had an eagle eye to the ballast before she put to sea. And such confidence did Lotty gain at last, not only in her own prowess and management, but in the seaworthiness and good qualities of the Jenny Wren, that she feared nothing, and never seemed to be so much at home as when out on the open sea. ”

“ But sorrow often ends in slumber; it is as if Nature needed the solace of sleep to make her forget. A colder breath of air appeared to sweep through the tree-trunks; and, drawing her tartan plaid up around head and dishevelled hair, Lotty lay{238} down in the lee of the mossy stone, and, drawing up her knees, fell fast asleep, with Wallace at her back.
Crona some hours after this heard a low, ominous growl, and, looking in the direction whence it came, beheld the raven face and brown eyes of the honest dog. ”

“ Ay, and those sturdy, bare-legged fisher-dames, with their creels upon their backs, would not have worked so hard had it been for themselves alone; but their Jimmies were on the sea, and their lads of husbands loved them, and so they blithely sang:
'The boatie rows, the boatie rows,
The boatie rows fu' weel;
But mickle lighter is the heart
When love bears up the creel.'
Then Lotty's own heart was overflowing with kindness for all creatures. ”

“ The child patted his hand as if she had been some old aunt of his.
'You were not afraid, were you, Mr Blake?' she said.
'Well, Lotty, a voice like that isn't calculated to raise the drooping spirits of a lone man like me. Have you done rehearsal?'
'Oh yes, and now, if you please, we can ramble off to the hills with Wallace. But we could ride, Mr Blake, if you prefer it. There is one big, wild black horse that only I can manage; but I have taken Skeleton up behind me sometimes, and I'm sure I could manage with you.'
Antony laughed. ”

“ HOW ANTONY HAPPENED TO BE THERE. ANTONY BLAKE—or Frank Antony Blake, to give him the benefit of his full tally—was the only son and heir-apparent of Squire Blake of Manby Hall, a fine old mansion away down in Devonshire; thousands of acres of land—no one seemed to know how many—rolling fields of meadow-lands divided by hedgerows and waving grain, woods and wolds, lakes and streams, and an upland of heath and fern that lost itself far away on the nor'-western horizon. ”

“ When they were out again in the open moonlight, Antony said, 'Do you often go to Crona's cottage, Lotty?'
'Oh yes, when I can spare time. Crona is a granny to me, and I love her and Tim and Joe, Pussy, Tod Lowrie, and all.'
'A very happy little natural family.'
They were high on a hill by this time, and far beneath them, near the sea, its long lines of breakers silvered by the moonbeams, white canvas tents could be seen, and many moving lights.
'That is our pitch,' said Lotty. 'The big caravan is yours, sir; the little one not very far off is mine. ”

“ But far north here, November is the artists' month par excellence, because, though touched with the frosts, the forests are not yet bare, and on the braes rising in loveliness on every hand the foliage, touched by the sunlight, gleams with every hue and tint, crimson of maple, bronze of beech or oak, brown of the elm, and dark-green of the waving pine, with higher up the silver stems of the weeping-birch. ”

“ And so Mrs Skipper thought she knew now some secret of Lotty's history that the child herself was ignorant of.
A rocking-chair at sea is a delightful contrivance when the weather is fine, as it was to-night, and this one was swayed or swung only by the vessel's gentle motion. It is a dreamy, drowsy movement; but there was no thought of sleep in Lotty's mind at present, nor in Mrs Paterson's. Lotty would have preferred to listen to a story or to hear a song. ”

“ All around you here there are beauty and romance that nothing on earth could surpass, while yonder in the city are the black mire of muddy streets, bare trees dripping soot, darkness, and choking fog. Frank Antony Blake, you have the better of it, you lucky old dog!'
He had frequent letters from Manby Hall, from Aggie, for she was the only real scribe; and almost every one of these now breathed the wish that he might soon return. Antony's mother wrote but seldom, being very much of an invalid and taking but little interest in anything. ”

“ Somehow, Frank Antony did not like to see his little friend on the stage performing any of her 'tit-bits,' as she laughingly called them. He had seen her once swinging the clubs to music with a gracefulness of strength and attitudes such as he had never believed possible. But he had not gone a second time. He used to hear the wild shouts of applause sometimes when he knew her to be acting, and was satisfied with that.
There is, of course, a deal of art and artfulness in feats of strength. ”

“ As we go rolling home, brave boys,
As we goes a-rolling home!'
The gale moderated considerably in the first dog-watch, and the sea became smoother. Reefs were shaken out, and as the sun set red in the nor'-west a heavenly starlit night succeeded the stormy day.
Ben went on watch at eight o'clock, and the rest settled around the stove in the cosy octagonal cabin.
They were plain-living people in the Nor'lan' Star, as all true sea-folks are. The skipper smoked in his easy-chair, Mrs Paterson sat knitting in hers, with Lotty on a footstool by her knee, and the red-faced mate between. ”