John Lindsay

“ Lindsay never married, I believe,’ said Miss Mowbray.
‘No; he has no relations nearer than’—‘nearer than I am,’ he was going to have said; but he stopped and substituted—‘nearer than nephews and nieces.’
‘And he has plenty of them, I suppose? All Scotch people seem to have so many relations; it is quite bewildering.’
‘Uncle James is my father’s uncle, you understand,’ said Alec; ‘and there are only two in our family, my sister and I; that is not so very many.’
‘No. But have you really a sister?’ exclaimed Laura, turning round so as to face her companion for an instant. ”

“ Lindsay, in a feeble tone. ‘The whole world will know soon enough. But don’t blame me, lads, after I am gone, I did it for the best. God knows, I did it for the best.’
And Semple, having received permission to stay in the room, walked over to the window.
‘We must get two witnesses,’ said Alec, drawing the will from its envelope. ‘Marks and the cook will do.’
‘The will had better be read first,’ put in Dr. Mackenzie. ‘There’s no need for the servants knowing its contents.’
‘True,’ said Mr. Lindsay; and Alec, standing at the old man’s bedside, began to read in a clear firm tone. ”

“ But Laura was not satisfied with this. If he would only turn and look at her! But he stood there, gazing at the red embers without seeing them.
‘Surely,’ thought Laura, ‘he has not ceased to love me? He is not one who easily forgets.’
‘Won’t you sit down?’ she said gently. But he did not seem to hear her. She was determined that he should speak.
‘Miss Lindsay is going north sooner than she intended,’ she said, almost sharply. ”

“ Alec waited till they came up, and then he said:
‘I have borrowed Mr. Fraser’s light skiff; suppose we all go for a row? You can row one skiff and I the other,’ he added, turning to Semple.
‘Oh, delightful!’ cried Laura. ‘It is just the evening for a row. You will come, Miss Lindsay, won’t you?’
‘I have no objections,’ said Margaret, quite indifferently.
Laura turned and ran into the house for wraps, while a rather awkward silence fell upon the rest of the party. ”

“ Lindsay’s house was already for her a thing of the past. What the future had in store for her she had no means of guessing. A cousin of her mother’s, who had married a Mr. Crosby, had offered her a home, and she had accepted the offer. Of Mr. Crosby she only knew that he was a coal merchant, and that he lived at Richmond Villa, Brighton. He might be a poor man, or he might be well-to-do; though from the fact that Mrs. Crosby had accepted Laura’s proposal to pay her sixty pounds a year for her board and lodging, it might be supposed that the Crosbys were not rich. ”

“ As soon as MacGowan entered the tavern, Beattie, with a smile on his thin lips, returned to the office. Everything had happened exactly as he had foreseen that it would happen.
In the course of the afternoon Alec Lindsay made his appearance in the managing clerk’s room, and asked him if he would attend at his uncle’s on the following morning, to superintend the signing of the will.
‘Indeed I can’t. I have to be in the Vice-Chancellor’s room by ten, and I shall probably be out all the morning. Why don’t you do it yourself?’
‘Because my name is mentioned in the will.’
‘What does that matter? ”

“ Hatchett, who had brought the will in the pocket of his overcoat, made a formal search among James Lindsay’s papers for another testament. He was still busy in the library when Miss Lindsay and Laura entered the dining-room.
Miss Mowbray walked slowly, with downcast eyes. She knew that her mourning dress was very becoming to her, and she secretly determined to be often in mourning, or half-mourning, at least, in the future. Dr. Mackenzie met the two ladies, and conducted Laura to a seat; while Mr. Carnegie, an old acquaintance of Miss Lindsay’s, came forward and led her to a chair. ”

“ A very fair sum. Enough to be the foundation of a first-rate fortune,’ And with this pleasant thought in his mind he set out for Theobald’s Road.
Mr. Hatchett was before him that morning, and was busy opening letters when he arrived.
‘There’s a note from that Mr. Lindsay whom you saw last night,’ said the solicitor, tossing it across the table. ‘He wants his nephew to draw his will. He can do it, I suppose?’
Beattie stood with the note in his hand without answering. ”

“ Lindsay.
I protested again that I could find my way perfectly well, and moved off, while Alec turned into the field with a set look about his mouth that was not pleasant to see.
The cause of the discontent I had seen in the lad’s face was plain enough now. He is treated like a child, as if he had no mind or will of his own. I wonder how the boy will turn out. It seems to me a toss-up; or rather, the chances are that he will break away altogether, and ruin himself.
I went on my way to the bank of the river, by the side of a double row of Scotch firs. ”

“ How can you decide on a point that must lie between each man and his Maker?’
‘Because I have asked them,’ answered Alec. ‘Each chooses his own road. Some differ from the orthodox Presbyterian belief on one point, some on another, but none hold it in its entirety.’
‘There are many non-essential points,’ began the minister; but he was not sorry that at this point the door opened, and Miss Lindsay, followed by Laura, entered the room.
Presently luncheon was announced, and Semple, who was just then paying one of his frequent visits from Glasgow, joined the others on their way to the dining-room. ”

“ Lindsay wrote to us, particularly desiring that his nephew should prepare his will——’
‘I don’t forget the letter; but it does not release us from all responsibility,’ interrupted the solicitor.
‘Has anything happened?’ asked the other.
‘Well, I should not be surprised if something [Pg 4] does happen. It seems that the old gentleman altered an intention he had of leaving an enormous sum of money to the Scotch Presbyterians, and left them only five thousand pounds instead.’
‘Rather a sensible thing to do, I should say,’ observed Mr. Beattie, with a smile. ”

“ A man whom she did not recognise joined Semple. They seemed to have been travelling by the same train without knowing it. The two men passed her, walking slowly on account of the crowd, and conversing together as they went.
‘And Alec Lindsay is ill?’ she heard Semple say to his companion.
‘Yes; a bad cold, he says. I hope he won’t be able to leave the house for a week,’ was the reply.
‘Why?’
‘Ah! you don’t understand. You think we are in sight of land. Not yet. In fact——’
Laura could hear no more, for Semple and Beattie (who was his companion) had passed her. But her curiosity was excited. ”

“ Lindsay had divined what his daughter had been doing; but he thought it was now quite time that she should come forward and play her part as hostess.
‘You go first, Alec,’ she said, taking up the cream-jug which she had brought as her excuse for her visit to the dairy.
‘And I tell you, sir, that till we have the ballot we can have no security against persecution,’ Mr. Lindsay was exclaiming, as they entered the sitting-room. ‘A man cannot vote now according to his conscience unless he is prepared to risk being driven from his home, to lose his very livelihood. ”

“ LINDSAY, Sir JOHN (1737–1788) , rear-admiral, born in 1737, was younger son of Sir Alexander Lindsay of Evelick in Perthshire, by Emilia, daughter of David Murray, fifth viscount Stormont, sister of William Murray, first earl of Mansfield [q. v.] ”

“ And so it is, all the world over. I should think myself very hardly used by fortune, if I had to live alone in a grimy city for six months on five-and-thirty pounds, and had to get up every day before dawn to grind away at Latin and Greek; yet here is young Lindsay with his blue eyes ready to leap out of his head with excitement and delight at the bare prospect of it! It is a curious world. But I must look after my packing; for in order to reach Glasgow to-morrow, we must be stirring long before daylight. Till we meet, then,
Your affectionate cousin ”

“ Lindsay. ‘I think I will go with you, and go on to Netherburn about those tiles.’
‘I wish you would come with us, Maggie,’ said Alec. ‘Father will be passing the loch on his way back in half an hour, and he can pick you up and bring you home. The drive will do you good.’
To this arrangement Margaret consented, and early next morning the little party set out in the keen wintry air. The sun, not long risen, was making the snow sparkle on the fields, and turning the desolate scene into fairyland. ”

“ Lindsay, was loftily condescending to Alec, and treated Margaret as if she ought to have been highly flattered by the admiration of so fine a gentleman.
‘Your respected cousin seemed to me as if he were greatly in need of a kicking,’ I said to Alec.
‘If he gets even a share of Uncle James’s property he will be a rich man,’ said Alec thoughtfully. ‘My father would think it a sin for Maggie to refuse a man with a hundred thousand pounds.’
‘So would a good many fathers, I suppose,’ said I.
I am sorry to see Alec’s attitude to his father; yet I fear he judges the old man only too accurately. ”

“ CHAPTER XXXVII. THE FUGITIVE’S RETURN. Before Miss Lindsay left London she accompanied her late cousin’s ward to Victoria, and saw her depart for Brighton. The old lady was by no means sorry that this was the last she was to see of Laura Mowbray. There had been from the first hour of their meeting a natural antipathy between the two women. Miss Lindsay’s ruling idea was that of duty, while Laura’s chief aim in life was to get as much amusement, or, failing that, as much comfort as possible, out of her existence. ”

“ It is not my purpose to attempt a description of the scene in the cottage, where Arthur Butler and his wife, and Henry, first saw Lindsay stretched upon a rude pallet, and suffering the anguish of a dangerous wound. It is sufficient to say that, in the midst of the deep grief of the bystanders, Lindsay was composed and tranquil, like one who thought it vain to struggle with fate. "I have foreseen this day, and felt its coming," he muttered, in a low and broken voice; "it has happened as it was ordained. I have unwisely struggled against my doom. ”

“ Did you ever see a perfectly beautiful woman, Sophy? I doubt it. I never did till I saw Margaret Lindsay. I was so astonished to see a lady at the Castle Farm that I positively stared at the girl for a moment, but she came forward and shook hands with the utmost self-possession.
‘I’m afraid you have had a cold drive, Mr. Blake,’ she said; and though she spoke in a very decidedly Scotch accent, the words did not sound so harshly from her lips as they had done when spoken by her father. For the first time I thought that the Doric might have an agreeable sound. ”

“ If he had lingered a minute or two longer he would have heard Miss Lindsay’s voice calling out in some anxiety, and Laura Mowbray’s silvery accents replying:
‘Yes; here I am, Miss Lindsay—it is so much cooler out of doors. My headache is almost quite gone, thank you; the cool sea-breeze has driven it away. How did you enjoy your party? How I wish I could have gone with you!’
But before Laura reached the house, Alec was once more far out in the loch. He wished to be alone, to indulge the sweet intoxication which was burning in his veins. ”

“ And Alec looked as if he meant to have his way, whether it pleased Mr. William Beattie or not.
Beattie was half inclined to laugh in the other’s face, and yet he was impressed in spite of himself. In one moment he had mentally run over the circumstances again. It was one of his maxims never to make an enemy if he could help it. Was it worth while making an enemy of young Lindsay? True, he saw no way in which Lindsay could injure him—things were rather the other way. But he might be a rich and influential man some day. ”

“ In another moment we were off, the sturdy old mare between the shafts carrying us along at a very fair pace.
There are some people, Sophy, who wear their characters written on their faces, and Alec Lindsay is one of them. I could see, even as we drove together along that solitary lane in the autumn twilight, that his was a frank, ingenuous nature, shy, sensitive, and reserved. I mean that his shyness made him reserved, but his thoughts and feelings showed themselves in his face without his knowing it, so little idea had he of purposely concealing himself. Such a face is always interesting ”

“ The mountains, standing like giants ‘to sentinel enchanted land,’ rose almost from the water’s edge. A few cottages stood clustering together at the mouth of a defile which gave access to Loch Lomond on the east. One or two large houses (of which ‘Glendhu,’ Mr. James Lindsay’s seaside residence, was one) stood at intervals along the shore.
Alec’s first care after landing was to provide himself with a lodging, as (much to his satisfaction) he was not required to live in Mr. Fraser’s house; and he was fortunate enough to find the accommodation he wanted in a cottage close to the seashore. ”

“ She listened for the postman’s ring, and, crossing the hall apparently by chance, said to the servant who had answered the door-bell:
‘Is that letter for Mr. Lindsay?’
‘Yes.’
‘Then you may give it to me. I am going to his room now.’
On reaching the old man’s bedroom, she closed the door softly behind her, and going up to him with swift, noiseless steps, she said:
‘Dr. Mackenzie and James have gone out, uncle; and Miss Lindsay is asleep; so I have come to you for company. Do you mind my sitting here half an hour, while nurse goes to supper? ”