Patsy by Samuel Rutherford Crockett (read aloud TXT) 📖

not stay without him. But the Princess, who had been watching keenly, took her by the hand and, whispering that she had something to say to her, drew her into a little boudoir looking out on a garden, all shaven lawns, artificial ponds, in which stately swans moved slowly up and down with a barge-like gallant manner as though they were accustomed to take part in royal processions.
"And now," said the Princess Elsa, drawing Patsy down on a sofa by the window, "let me look at you that I may see what it is that sets all the men agate to be carrying you off, and fighting duels about you. I suppose a woman cannot always tell, just because she is a woman. But I can see that you are vivid with life. You shine like a black pearl--"
Patsy drew in her breath sharply at the word.
"That was what he called me," she said nervously, looking about the room as if she expected her sometime captor to appear.
"He? Who? That wretch of a Lyonesse? Do not trouble your pretty head. He will not come near Hanover Lodge--neither he nor any of his brothers, except perhaps poor Billy."
The Princess did not further embarrass Patsy by prolonging her inspection. She began to talk of Galloway and of the people whom Patsy knew. Nothing loath was Patsy to pour out her soul on such a subject. This was Uncle Julian's Princess, and though she seemed older than she had anticipated--fairy princesses should at least always remain slim--she had all the gracefully placid beauty and the exquisite manners she had looked forward to.
Patsy told of Louis Raincy and his grandfather--of Castle Raincy and the four hundred-year-old feud between the Raincys and the Ferrises. She told the story of her rescue, and how Stair had shot the Duke, while Louis kept the horses to be ready for the return.
"And what is this Stair Garland?" the Princess asked. "The son of a yeoman, and not the eldest son. Ah, I understand--the cadet, the adventurous one. We have some such in our armies, and many more in the Austrian service. Perhaps we will send your Stair to wear the white uniform. It would become him rarely. And which of the two do you like the best?"
The last question was unexpected, but it was not a habit of Patsy's to be embarrassed--at least, not for long.
"Oh," she said crisply, "these are only two--there are others, and so far I have felt no desire to make any choice. I foresee that if the malady takes me, I am more likely to run away with the man than he with me. Uncle Ju says that is the way with our family. I am really more like my mother's people than the Ferrises--so at least every one says."
"Did not your father run away with an earl's daughter from the door of some ball-room?" the Princess asked.
"It was the Edinburgh Assembly rooms, but Uncle Ju says that it was my mother who ran away with him!"
"That," said the Princess, in a low tone, "I can very well believe. So you have yet to fall in love! Well, my advice to you is, do not put it off too long, young lady. And when once you have made up your mind, stick to your man though he were a baker's apprentice!"
"You talk just like Uncle Ju, Princess," said Patsy, smiling, "only that he wants me to see as much of the world as I can before--taking your advice."
"What does your Uncle say?" the Princess Elsa asked gently, not looking at the girl but beyond her out into the hazily bright garden.
"Well, if you know him, you will remember that it is difficult to separate what he really means from what he only _says_, because he means to tease. But at any rate he warns me not to run off with the first tight-girthed youth with a curly head who tells me he loves me. As if I were likely to! Why, I can hardly remember the time when somebody was not making love to me, and I do not see that it has made very much difference."
"No," mused the Princess, a smile of quiet amusement in her blue eyes, "but you are not at the world's end yet, and now we must go to town and get something wherewithal to fit you out."
"Uncle Ju has given me such a lot of money, Princess," said Patsy, jumping up, "shall I go and bring it? There is enough to pay for ever so many dresses. If I were to live to be a thousand I don't think I could spend all that!"
"Your Uncle Julian is a wonderful man," said the Princess Elsa, "he has a purse as long and as ready as his sword. And what he gave you was no more than a little pin-money, just to keep in your pocket, so that you would not need to be coming all the time to me for everything that you might want. But he has put a great sum in the bank for me to use for you, and so you need have no care as to your ball and court dresses and all your fineries--except the worry of having them fitted, which I find a very great one indeed."
Then the Princess broke out in a new place.
"And did Julian send you all the way to London without a maid? Surely such a man knew better than that. I shall scold him when I see him, but I suppose it will be a long time before he dare come to London."
"He said that he would first need to make his peace with the Prince Regent, and I don't believe he will do anything in the matter himself."
"Well, he has friends, and we can afford to let the killing of such a man as Lord Wargrove in a loyal duel stand to his credit a little while longer. Yet perhaps we may see him sooner than we expect. Your uncle, child, is at once the most reliable and the most unexpected of men!"
Patsy let this drop. It was clearly a reflection of the Princess upon which she was not required to comment. So she went back to the question of travelling without a maid.
"It is true," she said, "that I had no maid--these are rather scarce in Galloway. I only know of Lady Raincy (Louis's mother, that is) who has one, and she is always changing. But the dearest lady in the world came with me--you would love her--Miss Aline Minto of Balmacminto. One day I shall bring her to see you!"
"What is the reason she did not come with you here?" said the Princess.
"Dear lady," said Patsy (the minx had learned her modes of address from her uncle), "she is too shy. No, she is not at all the type of old maid--she is not an old maid at all. She has a good estate, and I know that Uncle Ju has to go to Ladykirk often to keep at bay suitors for the estate and for Miss Aline's hand."
"Ah, has he, indeed?" said the Princess, at once showing interest; "then I must make haste to see this Miss Aline of Ladykirk--what a pretty name and style. I don't believe I could get my tongue round the title of her estate. And so Julian acts as her protecting angel--"
"Oh," said Patsy calmly, "there is no love-making in it, you understand--they are both too old, of course. But Julian is the handsomest and richest bachelor in our parts, and Miss Aline--well, she is Miss Aline and owner of the Balmacminto estates. So I think she and uncle make--what is it called?--a kind of defensive and offensive alliance. I know Uncle Ju had nearly to fight old Sir Bunny Bunny the other day. He interviewed the old fellow. He had come to propose his son, who is such a donkey that the very village urchins bray after him and pretend to munch thistles!"
"Let us go and see Miss Aline!" said the Princess, and rang the bell. "Where did you say she was living--at a hotel--why did she not go to friends? It is so much more _convenable_ for a lady travelling alone!"
"Well," said Patsy, "I think her aunt the countess is away, and I am not sure whether she would wish to put herself under an obligation. Then Lord Raincy is coming to town next week or so to place his grandson in the dragoons, but his house is not opened up yet. Of course, Miss Aline would have gone there. My father wanted to take her back to Ladykirk--it is so safe and peaceful. No soldiers or press-gangs or smugglers ever go there, for Miss Aline is like something sacred--so unable to take care of herself that everybody must look after her!"
"And particularly Julian?" observed the Princess, with a spark in the blue eyes.
"As you say, dear lady," retorted Patsy maliciously, "especially Uncle Julian!"
"Order the carriage!" said the Princess.


CHAPTER XIX
MISS ALINE TAKES COMMAND
"Indeed, mem," said the dainty little lady, as Patsy and the Princess were ushered into her tiny sitting-room, "but this is more than kind and far abune my thoughts and deservings. But I wish it had been at Ladykirk that I had been permitted to receive you, and not in this--this pig-stye, that has not been cleansed for a hundred year, and as for dusting--I was just tearing up an auld bit o' body-linen to show the craiturs how a room should be dusted."
"But your maid?" said the Princess, "I know you have brought one. Why not let her do a thing like that?"
"Eelen Young--oh, mem, it's little ye ken--and how should ye, being as they tell me siccan a great leddy, the snares and the traps that lie waiting for the feet of the young and the unwary here in this michty 'caravansy'! My leddy, there's not a decent lass in the place--only men to serve ye and make the beds. 'Thank ye kindly,' says I, 'but I, Aline Minto, shall make my ain.' So after I had let Eelen Young sleep with me one night, I packed her aff wi' the next coach and paid David Colvill, the guard, to look after her to Dumfries, where she has a sister in service."
The Princess had taken an instant fancy, as Patsy knew she would, to the little Dresden china shepherdess of a lady who would never grow older. Everything about her was irresistible--the soft grey ripple of hair about her brow, the shy girlish eyes, the long delicate hand with the fingers which, in spite of their declared readiness to work, trembled a little, and the voice which spoke the Northern speech with such clear-cut gentility, that the words fell on the ear with a certain cool freshness, like the splash of water in a fountain or the tinkle of a burn flowing over pebbles of whinstone.
"You must come away with us," said the Princess, "I have a great house in the midst of gardens not far from the town, and horses which are greatly in need of exercise--when it pleases you to use them, you will confer a real favour. So let Patsy here help you to make up your trunks, and come back home with us!"
"Oh, do, Miss Aline!" pleaded Patsy, "that will be the very happiest thing I can think of."
"Bide a wee," said the old lady, motioning Patsy to be silent. "I am heartily obligated to your Highness for her maist kind offer, and I will accept it on yae condeetion. Which is, that if ever ye come to Scotland on any errand whatsoever, or have need of a bit nook where ye can forget