Gavin

“ Sir Gavin was distinctly unpopular; but that, which would have been a reason with most men for leaving Vienna at the earliest feasible moment, was reason enough to keep him there until the last possible hour. He had an unshakable self-possession, and it gave him a cynical amusement to show himself when the world expected him to take himself off; to smile and be at his ease when other men would have been miserably ill at ease; to calmly ignore the attitude of others when it did not coincide with his own attitude. ”

“ Even those who called you a little devil, of whom I have been one, admitted that in the end you had a soul, though not that you had been born with one. They said you stole it, and so made a woman of yourself. But again I say I am not your judge, and when I picture you as Gavin saw you first, a bare-legged witch dancing up Windyghoul, rowan berries in your black hair, and on your finger a jewel the little minister could not have bought with five years of toil, the shadows on my pages lift, and I cannot wonder that Gavin loved you. ”

“ Gavin, who had no regular beauty, but a fine figure and a frank, speaking face, looked his best in his white hussar jacket and glittering accoutrements. No mother admiring her young daughters dressed for their first ball could have shown more pride and pleasure than Madame Ziska. The children, who were allowed to stay up as a special privilege, were in raptures of delight, while even Kalenga, who was always patient, but seldom gay, smiled in sympathy with the pleasure of those around him. At last St. Arnaud and Gavin set off in a hired coach. ”

“ She was weeping, and told me the doctor thought Sir Gavin could hardly survive many hours.”
“Why should my mother weep for that man, who has made her whole life wretched; and why—ah, why should she risk her life for him?” cried Gavin, throwing himself about in his chair in his agony of grief and alarm.
“Because,” quietly replied St. Arnaud, “she loves him still. I have seen it always. Your [Pg 297] mother, Gavin, is one of those faithful women, whose love once given cannot be withdrawn; who silently and patiently endure to the end, and whose unshaken constancy makes one admire and despair. ”

“ Only one bitterness remains. When I found Gavin in the rain, when I was fighting my way through the flood, when I saw how the hearts of the people were turned against him—above all, when I found Whamond in the manse—I cried to God, making promises to Him, if He would spare the lad for Margaret's sake, and He spared him ”

“ For Gavin's sake the evil in her heart must die, she said. She must act not only as a brave woman but as a wise one. Moreover, her true self, beginning to speak, reminded her that there would be an outcry through all London to-morrow, and that such a man as Count Odin would never face the publicity of it; his one sure weapon was his threat against her lover. ”

“ Arnaud at once blew out the candle, hid it, and the two, sitting on Gavin’s bed, with the moonlight streaming through a narrow, barred window, realized that they were prisoners. And in the very first hour of their real captivity they began to plan for their escape. Gavin’s first words were: “You counted on Madame Ziska; what think you now?”
“I think,” responded St. Arnaud, with a smile, “that an honest woman like her is more to be trusted than the great ones of earth. ”

“ I've known Gavin all his life; I know his people—good, sound, reliable country folk, of the kind you like to imagine as constituting the body and backbone of the American eighty millions. That's why I can't understand Gavin's motive. Why should he steal?"
Upham and Brice exchanged glances. When a girl loves money, and a man loves the girl, motives are not far to seek. ”

“ As I drew back, and stared at him in terror, Sir Gavin put his hand upon my shoulder and whispered, “He is mazed yet, lad; he doesn’t know you—he doesn’t understand! Ah—they’re quiet below”—and rushing out, roared down the stairs, “Is all safe there? Have you taken that rogue?”
“Ay, ay, sir—we have him safe!” they shouted up in answer; and Sir Gavin growling, “Ay, but where the devil’s that villain, Charles?” took my father’s arm and brought him with me down the stair. ”

“ CHAPTER XXII. LOVERS. Only something terrible, Gavin thought, could have brought Babbie to him at such an hour; yet when he left his mother's room it was to stand motionless on the stair, waiting for a silence in the manse that would not come. A house is never still in darkness to those who listen intently; there is a whispering in distant chambers, an unearthly hand presses the snib of the window, the latch rises. ”

“ He was more excited than I, for the "Gavin" fell harmlessly on him, while I had no sooner uttered it than there rushed through me the shame of being false to Margaret. It was the only time in my life that I for-got her in him, though he has ever stood next to her in my regard.
I looked from Gavin to the gypsy woman, and again from her to him, and she began to tell a lie in his interest. But she got no farther than "I met Mr. Dis-bart accid—" when she stopped, ashamed. It was reverence for Gavin that checked the lie. Not every man has had such a compliment paid him. ”

“ Arnaud produced not only a sponge, but a small towel, a cake of scented soap, a silver comb, and a pearl-handled razor. Gavin’s eyes gleamed. “These will I have when I am an officer!” he cried.
They resumed their way. The joy that shone in Gavin’s face was contagious. St. Arnaud smiled at the thought that a suit of clothes and the hope of a sublieutenancy could give so much happiness to any one; but he did not know that it meant all which the young soldier coveted in life. ”

“ How long Andrew Gavin sat dreaming over his intended work we cannot say; but never was poet more rudely, importunately, and unpleasantly roused from his dream, by the hand of a messenger-at-arms, than was the unsuspecting victim of Duncan Schulebred's treachery, as he was called upon by the landlord to pay the bill. He had no money upon him—the small sum he had given to the weaver to pay the last or stirrup gill, and which the varlet had carried away with him, having been all his remaining cash, after paying the price of the linen. ”

“ Gavin answered. Babbie gasped. “And if you act foolishly,” he continued, “it is right that I should bear the brunt of it. No, I will not let you go on alone; you are not fit to be alone. You need some one to watch over you and care for you and love you, and, if need be, to suffer with you.”
“Turn back, dear, before he sees us.”
“He has seen us.”
Yes, I had seen them, for the figure on the hill was no other than the dominie of Glen Quharity. The park gate clicked as it swung to, and I looked up and saw Gavin and the Egyptian. ”

“ Peep into another and there are eggs prepared so cunningly that they would melt the heart of Master Fastidity himself. Fish and fowl and flesh, great red joints upon the buffet, exquisite peaches from the hothouses, bunches of grapes that would have taken prizes in any show—how ironical to remember the class of man who usually sat to such a table, his ennui, his distaste, and the abstinence cure the physicians compelled him to practise. Gavin was just a hearty Englishman, fit and strenuous and needing no "waters" to make life endurable. ”

“ The great white expanse seemed calling to him to come away and do as his fellow heroes were doing. He ought to be lying in a freezing trench, grasping a rifle instead of skulking in a feather bed wrapped in warm blankets. But indeed the bed had become a very rack to poor Gavin, the blankets smothered him. He tossed from side to side, vainly seeking relief.
Suddenly he sat up in bed, holding his breath to listen. The great glittering space of the outdoor world had taken voice and was crying out against him for not playing the man. ”

“ He saw that the son of such a mother would be of tough fibre. As for Gavin, St. Arnaud’s beauty, grace, and superior knowledge of the world were so captivating, that the riding by his side in an officer’s uniform was an intoxicating pleasure.
“Often,” thought Gavin to himself, looking sidewise at St. Arnaud’s clear and handsome profile, “have I watched you at parade, and longed—oh, how I have longed—to be on equal terms with you. I shall be yet, because I am resolved, if a man has any share in his own destiny, to be one day a sublieutenant ”

“ However, it is very easy at twenty, with health and [Pg 268] strength and an officer’s commission and a good horse, to throw future perplexities to the winds. This was what Gavin Hamilton did. He was made happy by frequent letters from his mother, who always wrote cheerfully, and to whom, Gavin knew, her present time of rest and peace and hope was blessed. To live upon a little money, and to spend a part of every day in teaching Freda and Gretchen, was no hardship to one who had known Lady Hamilton’s sad vicissitudes. ”

“ Arnaud, roused from his habitual calm, and speaking before Gavin had time to take breath after Kalenga’s recital. Madame Ziska supplemented her husband’s glowing words by many stories of the Empress Queen’s excellence as a wife and mother, and Gavin and St. Arnaud were eager listeners. Gavin was ready to believe anything of the courage and nobility of a woman defending her rights—he had seen an example of it in his own mother. ”

“ He appeared punctually at the next weekly levee of the Empress Queen, after he had been dropped out of the window by his son, and bore with perfect composure the sly smiles and covert gibes to which his adventure gave rise. Only on one point did he change. Twice had he met Gavin, and each time the slur cast upon Lady Hamilton had been resented in a way against which he was practically defenceless. All the sneers and jeers in the world [Pg 136] were helpless against a young man with such fine, powerful arms and legs as Gavin’s, and who had no scruple whatever in using them. ”

“ No man could long endure, and live, the hideous depression from which St. Arnaud had suffered since Rosbach; and when his soul made a final rally, it was to perch upon heights of hope and joy. He felt sure they would beat Frederick of Prussia, and one short month would see a revival of the fortunes of the Empress Queen. He so expressed himself to Gavin, who had never suffered any depression whatever. And each found a source of vivid interest in the other’s personality. ”

“ Gavin said, "for they have failed to discover it even in Thrums."
"Some of the Spittal servants suspect it, nevertheless," Babbie answered, "though how much they know I cannot say. He has not a servant now, either here or in England, who knew me as a child. The gardener who befriended me was sent away long ago. Lord Rintoul looks upon me as a disgrace to him that he cannot live without."
"I dare say he cares for you more than you think," Gavin said gravely. ”

“ Gavin leaped into the avenue, and she heard him and looked behind. He tried to cry “Woman!” sternly, but lost the word, for now she saw him, and laughed with her shoulders, and beckoned to him, so that he shook his fist at her. She tripped on, but often turning her head beckoned and mocked him, and he forgot his dignity and his pulpit and all other things, and ran after her. Up Windyghoul did he pursue her, and it was well that the precentor was not there to see. She reached the mouth of the avenue, and kissing her hand to Gavin, so that the ring gleamed again, was gone. ”

“ Is not love God's doing? To Gavin He had given something of Himself, and the moment she saw it the flash lit her own soul.
It was but little of his Master that was in Gavin, but far smaller things have changed the current of human lives; the spider's thread that strikes our brow on a country road may do that. Yet this I will say, though I have no wish to cast the little minister on my pages larger than he was, that he had some heroic hours in Thrums, of which one was when Babbie learned to love him. ”

“ She herself, accustomed in her youth to the most refined society, had formerly noted with regret many little things in Gavin which it was inevitable that he should [Pg 150] acquire from the humble associates of his childhood and boyhood. But all these small faults of manners and language seemed to have disappeared. In two short months Gavin had become perfectly fitted for the society to which he was born and entitled.
Eight o’clock came, and Kalenga’s chair had just been wheeled up to the comfortable supper-table, when St. Arnaud appeared. ”

“ Arnaud. Their story had been told broadcast in Vienna, and the proudest and most exclusive society in Europe was prepared to welcome them. St. Arnaud was already well known, and Gavin’s relationship to the haughty and unpopular Sir Gavin Hamilton was public property. St. Arnaud had remarked to Gavin, on entering the palace:
[Pg 128]
“Surely Sir Gavin Hamilton will absent himself from this levee. He will not wish to be brought face to face with you.”
“You little know my father,” replied Gavin. “It is not in him to avoid anybody or anything. ”

“ For the moment Gavin was so lost in misery over the probable effect of the night's rioting that he had forgotten where he was. Suddenly the Egyptian's beautiful face was close to his, and she pressed a divit into his hand, at the same time pointing at the officer, and whispering "Hit him."
Gavin flung the clod of earth, and hit Halliwell on the head.
I say I cannot explain this. I tell what happened, and add with thankfulness that only the Egyptian witnessed the deed. Gavin, I suppose, had flung the divit before he could stay his hand. Then he shrank in horror.
"Woman!" he cried again. ”