Roye

“ The Englishman is still in the hut in the mere, and busy with Roye on that great task of his; but he is restless, and his appetite is whetted because Roye has got to know that the printed sheets that were on board the Marburg are waiting in the hold of the ship that lies at the quay in Worms, and the captain wants to know what to do with them. I'll tell you more. They say that the powers that be have at last plucked up their courage, and declare that this scandal shall be ended, so that Schouts' castle is to be stormed, and the robber noble is to be hanged over his own gate. ”

“ Everyone who blows along wants to have a look round, and we couldn't let the Americans get away from us. They've gone to Roye and Nesle and Ham and Coucy-le-Château to-day. To-morrow they'll be at Noyon till it's time to come here; and the two nights they spend at Compiègne."
(No wonder we had not been able to find rooms in the hotel! But I didn't grudge them to our new Allies) .
"They'll go crazy to find ladies in the château to receive them," he went on. And Nancy, far from appearing to think that result deplorable, promptly accepted the invitation in Mother's name as well as her own. ”

“ And Thou were left alone,
Every existence would exist in Thee.
There is not room for Death,
Nor atom that his might could render void:
Thou—Thou art Being and Breath,
And what Thou art may never be destroyed. ”

“ Silence! Duke of Montrose, and lead me where you will; but be silent, I say. Honour is like fine steel—breathe upon it and the surface becomes stained. Sorely have you striven to stain the honour of Rob Roy; but you have striven in vain; for Rob will be remembered among these green mountains and in the hearts of the Gael—look down, O Heaven, and bless them!—when you, duke so venal and corrupt, will be remembered only as the enemy and oppressor of him you would destroy."
"Egad, I like your spirit, MacGregor!" said Colonel Grahame, as he sheathed his sword with an emphatic jerk. ”

“ Roy, away in that dreadful Heaven, can have no thought of me, cannot remember how I loved him, how he left me all alone. The singing and the worshipping must take up all his time. God wants it all. He is a “Jealous God.” I am nothing any more to Roy. ”

“ If ever a man had cause for ambition I have. With God’s help, that boy shall take his place with any gentleman in the land before I die.”
He sat down again by his table, but instead of continuing his work he remained for a time, one hand partly shading his eyes, while he indulged in a meditation. Yes; he must save as much money as possible; for Roy’s education must begin early. Roy must have this, Roy must have that. He did not think of Faith at all. Faith was but a girl. ”

“ From a railroad time table Roy ascertained where he must go, and by the first train he could get in the morning he set out.
“Be very gentle with him, Roy,” his mother said at parting. “By his sending to you he evidently thinks I am greatly displeased with him.”
“Trust me, mother,” Roy assured her with a smile.
He felt very happy this morning, happier than he had, it seemed to him, since they had come into their fortune. Of such worth is sorrow sometimes, to make a contrast by which to intensify joy. ”

“ Rob Roy laughed scornfully.
"You would have asked me to surrender, my lord duke; but for a MacGregor to surrender is to die with ignominy; to resist to the end is to die with honour to ourselves and our forefathers. A hundred and twenty years of oppression have made us what we are now; but a time may come when even the cunning Lowlander shall weep for the snare of to-day, and shall tremble at the vengeance of Clan Alpine!"
"Zounds! but you are a bold fellow to be a gentleman-drover—a seller of black cattle," said the duke, mockingly. ”

“ It is not impossible that he is making-believe all the time. One great, good thing can be said for Roy: he is [p 87]
never really cross; he never snaps; he never snarls; he never bites his human friends, no matter how great the provocation may be. Roy is a canine enigma, the most eccentric of characters. His family cannot determine whether he is a gump or a genius. But they know he is nice; and they like him!
Long may Roy be spared to wag his earthly tail, and to bay deep-mouthed welcome to his own particular people as they draw near home. ”

“ May. No, Roy, hear me first. (Falls on her knees.) Hear my confession. (Enter Bess and Marcus, L. I. E.)
Roy (quickly raising her) . Hush, wife! listeners.
May (steps back in line with door, 3 E. R.) . I care not: hear it all. (Roy goes to mantel.) One whom I thought dead, one whom my mother wronged, comes now in want and wretchedness, not to claim my duty as he has a right, but with a nobleness that puts to shame my pride, to seal his lips, that, with a word, could make me blush before the world. Do you hear me, Roy?
Roy. I am listening, May. ”

“ Roy, too, seems to take to him, for he wags his tail and suffers himself to be patted in a way that is remarkable; for of late, like his master, though with different reasons, he has taken to viewing all mankind with suspicion. ”

“ After a time it occurred to him that Faith would be very likely to be in such a lovely place. The swing-doors were always opening and shutting. Roy, watching his opportunity, pushed his way in by the side of a ragged woman and two coarse men. They advanced up to the counter to ask for gin, but the baby child remained on the threshold. He looked around him with the wide open eyes of admiration, innocence, and trust. Anything so lovely gazing at anything so evil had been seldom seen ”

“ But has this amazing creation a meaning, or is Roy merely one of the results of the sportive play of a man of genius? He is something more, we feel, when, at the end of the romance, he gives his life for the woman who has so faithfully loved him and believed in his royal pretensions. He perishes in a fire, because in saving her he would not save himself. It is as if the author said: "Behold, a man by nature histrionic and Bohemian, and do not make the mistake to think him incapable of nobility. ”

“ Roy. Half a mile below. Did he look rough?
Mar. Rough, but good-natured. Dress ragged, face bloated, figure plump. These fellows thrive on their pickings these pests.
Roy. Don’t say that, Marcus. The fellow may have been unfortunate.
Mar. Unfortunate? Bah! What’s misfortune but a roll in the dust?——jump up, shake yourself, and you’re as good as new. I’ve no patience with a man who wants vim——something on the side of his face——you know——cheek!
Roy. Yes: a quality which tramps (aside) and drummers (aloud) possess in a wonderful degree. (Bess goes up to piano.) ”

“ Faith laid him tenderly on the horse-hair sofa, covered him over, and sat down by his side. She sat on a low seat, and, folding her hands on her lap, gazed straight before her. Faith was nearly eleven years old now, but she was small for her age—small, thin, and very sad-looking. Only when playing with Roy, or tending Roy, did her little sallow face grow childish and happy in expression. Faith possessed her mother’s sensitive temperament. Love alone could make this child bright and happy; without love she must pine and die, perhaps as her mother died. ”

“ The woman was not much surprised when Roy told her of the condition in which her master had come home.
“It’s what I’ve been expecting every day,” she said. “He doesn’t eat enough to keep a bird alive. I’m amazed to think he should ask you to stop to dinner. It’s little enough you’ll get, Master Roy, but I’ll do my best.”
The house was a bare looking place, furnished only with the merest necessities. No pictures were on the walls, no books on the tables; Roy wondered what the old man did to pass the time here by himself. There was not even a sofa for him to lie upon. ”

“ Overcome with baffled fury at discovering her gone from the Fort, he had travelled hot-foot in pursuit, but now that she was within his reach, now that he had discovered Roy powerless to protect her, his feelings underwent a sudden revulsion. The spark of humanity that had long lain dormant under all his recklessness burned bright at the sight of Roy’s pathetic figure, and all idea of further pursuit faded from his mind as completely as if it had never filled it. In its stead a raging desire to go far away from the man he had injured possessed him. ”

“ Richard Roe sat across his table irresistibly reminiscent of some wandering, roué god, who needed but a whiff of Olympian air to refreshen his eternal youth. Sun and wind and work had erased the signs of dissipated strength, sleep had rubbed out the aging lines of work, and now he sat in the sala of the Tin-Roofed House lean, brown, and hard, with his rumpled yellow hair and trace of yellow beard, and sparkling eyes half smiling at Life and Fate—not defiantly or deprecatingly, but with the faint amusement one may find in the vagaries of equals one knows well. ”

“ When Roy had finished, she spoke softly. "I'm glad you told me. I know now the kind of man your father was. He loved you more than his own life. He was brave and generous and kind. Do you think he would have nursed a grudge for seventeen years? Do you think he would have asked you to give up your happiness to carry on a feud that ought never to have been?"
"No, but—"
"You are going to marry me, not Hal Rutherford. He is a good man now, however wild he may have been once. But you need n't believe that just because I say so. Wait and see. Be to him just as much or as little as you like. ”

“ I am everything that is bad, I confess; but, oh, how could I tell, when all 351these years nobody has known, and I was so different, and the old life lay far behind, and I did love Roy. Oh, if I’ve sinned deeply, I am cruelly punished at the last. Think, Henry, to-morrow, ay, to-day, for it is to-morrow now, I was to have been his wife; everything is in readiness, the guests are here, and now it cannot be, and I,—oh, what reason can I give to Roy for holding back at the very altar? ”

“ From that hour Roy was as one who has some awful fear upon him; he started at the slightest sound. None save himself knew how bitter were his feelings, how acute his anguish. And always from his soul this cry went up: “What have I done to deserve this terrible affliction?” His whole life was blasted. All his bright dreams, all his ambitions, were roughly brought to an end, and from a man, young, strong, resolute, he had become more pitiably helpless than a little child—all by the evil-doing of a reckless, useless man-animal to whom he had been rescuer and friend. ”

“ Roy was very conscious of his prospective position. "I am quite as old already as lots of middies," he would declare, "and only two years younger than General Moore when he began to be a soldier."
"You should not startle your mother, Roy," the Colonel said gravely, as Mrs. Baron sat up, her eyes wide and terrified. "It is necessary sometimes to think of other people before yourself. You understand?"
"I'm sorry, sir; but is it true?" asked Roy, too much excited to be penitent for more than three seconds. "Are we really and truly going to Verdun?" ”

“ That Roy had lived to be twenty-eight and never married, or shown a disposition to do so, was a marvel to all, and latterly some of the old dowagers of the neighborhood who had young ladies to dispose of had seriously taken the matter in hand, to see if something could not be done with the grave, impassive man. He was polite and agreeable to all the girls, and treated them with that thoughtful deference so pleasing to women, and so rarely found in any man who has not the kindest and the best of hearts. ”

“ My father? no! no! Come shame, come disgrace, the wanderer shall find rest, the father find a champion in his daughter’s love. (Goes L. Enter Roy C.)
Roy. Ah, my darling. You see I’ve kept my word.
May (runs up and throws herself on his breast, C.) . O Roy, Roy, never so welcome. O Roy, I am so happy. (Weeps.)
Roy. Well, well, little wife, tears are not signs of happiness. Let me get off my coat. (May turns and comes to table. Roy removes coat and throws hat and coat on ottoman, then comes down to chair at fireplace, and watches her, hand on back of it. May stands at table looking down.) ”

“ Nay! go not," for Roy was starting up. "True! the women are nigh [Pg 136] dead, and Foster-father hath his fingers frost-bitten, but—nay, put more flame to the fire, boy! It is the fire they need!"
He was half beside himself, but he was right. As the fresh juniper branches blazed up Head-nurse came tottering and stumbling into its light. Roy sprang to help her, but she pushed him aside.
"The Heir-to-Empire?" she muttered, her lips almost refusing to form the words. "The Heir-to-Empire, the Admired-of-the-World——"
Roy pointed to the little tent. "There! Safe! Well! Asleep!" he cried ”

“ Ho, ho; it's too rich, Roy! You would make yourself as good a man as old Baintree; you would make yourself worthy of his daughter. Remember telling me that? And didn't you, though—with my help! My help, Roy—not God's! It was Black Angus and the Devil did it!
"Well, well, I thought I would surprise you with my little tale of how I used the Twigg girl to spoil your chance with Mary. But Beasley surprised you instead. Didn't he, now? A neat trick, eh, Roy? ”

“ Hence he had stayed at home to receive the postman. But the postman had not come, and it gave Roy a pain in his temper.
“They be a-coming back, that’s what it is,” was the conclusion he arrived at, when his disappointment had a little subsided. “Perhaps they might have come by this very ship! I wonder if it brings folks as well as letters?”
“I know he must be dead!” sobbed Mrs. Roy.
“He’s dead as much as you be,” retorted Roy. “He’s a-making his fortune, and he’ll come home after it—that’s what Luke’s a-doing. For all you know he may be come, too.” ”