第36章

"We bestowed a consolation prize on Salemina," continued Francesca, "because she succeeded in getting hoots, losh, havers, and blethers into one line, but naturally she could not maintain such an ideal standard. Read your verses, Pen, though there is little hope that our friends will enjoy them as much as you do. Whenever Miss Hamilton writes anything of this kind, she emulates her distinguished ancestor Sir William Hamilton, who always fell off his own chair in fits of laughter when he was composing verses."

With this inspiring introduction I read my lines as follows:-AN AMERICAN GIRL'S FAREWELL TO EDINBURGH.

The muse being somewhat under the influence of the Scottish ballad I canna thole my ain toun, Sin' I hae dwelt i' this;

To bide in Edinboro' reek Wad be the tap o' bliss.

Yon bonnie plaid aboot me hap, The skirlin' pipes gae bring, With thistles fair tie up my hair, While I of Scotia sing.

The collops an' the cairngorms, The haggis an' the whin, The `Staiblished, Free, an' U.P. kirks, The hairt convinced o' sin,--The parritch an' the heather-bell, The snawdrap on the shaw, The bit lam's bleatin' on the braes,--How can I leave them a'?

How can I leave the marmalade An' bonnets o' Dundee?

The haar, the haddies, an' the brose, The East win' blawin' free?

How can I lay my sporran by, An' sit me doun at hame, Wi'oot a Hieland philabeg Or hyphenated name?

I lo'e the gentry o' the North, The Southern men I lo'e, The canty people o' the West, The Paisley bodies too.

The pawky folk o' Fife are dear,--Sae dear are ane an' a', That e'en to think that we maun pairt Maist braks my hairt in twa.

So fetch me tartans, heather, scones, An' dye my tresses red;

I'd deck me like th' unconquer'd Scots, Wha hae wi' Wallace bled.

Then bind my claymore to my side, My kilt an' mutch gae bring;

While Scottish lays soun' i' my lugs M'Kinley's no my king,--For Charlie, bonnie Stuart Prince, Has turned me Jacobite;

I'd wear displayed the white cockade.

An' (whiles) for him I'll fight!

An' (whiles) I'd fight for a' that's Scotch, Save whusky an' oatmeal, For wi' their ballads i' my bluid, Nae Scot could be mair leal!

I fancied that I had pitched my verses in so high a key that no one could mistake their burlesque intention. What was my confusion, however, to have one of the company remark when I finished, `Extremely pretty; but a mutch, you know, is an article of WOMAN'S apparel, and would never be worn with a kilt!'

Mr. Macdonald flung himself gallantly into the breach. He is such a dear fellow! So quick, so discriminating, so warm-hearted!

"Don't pick flaws in Miss Hamilton's finest line! That picture of a fair American, clad in a kilt and mutch, decked in heather and scones, and brandishing a claymore, will live for ever in my memory.

Don't clip the wings of her imagination! You will be telling her soon that one doesn't tie one's hair with thistles, nor couple collops with cairngorms."

Somebody sent Francesca a great bunch of yellow broom, late that afternoon. There was no name in the box, she said, but at night she wore the odorous tips in the bosom of her black dinner-gown, and standing erect in her dark hair like golden aigrettes.

When she came into my room to say good night, she laid the pretty frock in one of my trunks, which was to be filled with garments of fashionable society and left behind in Edinburgh. The next moment I chanced to look on the floor, and discovered a little card, a bent card with two lines written on it:-`Better lo'ed ye canna be, Will ye no' come back again?'

We have received many invitations in that handwriting. I know it well, and so does Francesca, though it is blurred; and the reason for this, according to my way of thinking, is that it has been lying next the moist stems of flowers, and unless I do her wrong, very near to somebody's warm heart as well.

I will not betray her to Salemina, even to gain a victory over that blind and deaf but much beloved woman. How could I, with my heart beating high at the thought of seeing my ain dear laddie before many days?

Oh, love, love, lassie, Love is like a dizziness:

It winna lat a puir body Gang aboot his business.'