“I thoucht yer lordship wad like to see an auld
stair I cam upo’ the ither day, ’at gang’s
frae the wizard’s chaumer.”
“Go to hell with your damned tomfoolery!”
said the marquis “If ever you mention that cursed
hole again, I’ll kick you out of the house.”
Malcolm’s eyes flashed, and a fierce answer
rose to his lips, but he had seen that his master
was in trouble, and sympathy supplanted rage.
He turned and left the room in silence.
Lord Lossie paced up and down the library for a whole
hour—a long time for him to be in one mood.
The mood changed colour pretty frequently during the
hour, however, and by degrees his wrath assuaged.
But at the end of it he knew no more what he was going
to do than when he left Miss Horn in the study.
Then came the gnawing of his usual ennui and restlessness:
he must find something to do.
The thing he always thought of first was a ride; but
the only animal of horse kind about the place which
he liked was the bay mare, and her he had lamed.
He would go and see what the rascal had come bothering
about—alone though, for he could not endure
the sight of the fisher fellow—damn him!
In a few moments he stood in the wizard’s chamber,
and glanced round it with a feeling of discomfort
rather than sorrow—of annoyance at the
trouble of which it had been for him both fountain
and storehouse, rather than regret for the agony and
contempt which his selfishness had brought upon the
woman he loved; then spying the door in the furthest
corner, he made for it, and in a moment more, his
curiosity, now thoroughly roused, was slowly gyrating
down the steps of the old screw stair. But Malcolm
had gone to his own room, and hearing some one in
the next, half suspected who it was, and went in.
Seeing the closet door open, he hurried to the stair,
and shouted, “My lord! my lord! or whaever ye
are! tak care hoo ye gang, or ye’ll get a terrible
fa’.”
Down a single yard the stair was quite dark, and he
dared not follow fast for fear of himself falling
and occasioning the accident he feared. As he
descended, he kept repeating his warnings, but either
his master did not hear or heeded too little, for presently
Malcolm heard a rush, a dull fall, and a groan.
Hurrying as fast as he dared with the risk of falling
upon him, he found the marquis lying amongst the stones
in the ground entrance, apparently unable to move,
and white with pain. Presently, however, he got
up, swore a good deal, and limped swearing into the
house.
The doctor, who was sent for instantly pronounced
the knee cap injured, and applied leeches. Inflammation
set in, and another doctor and surgeon were sent for
from Aberdeen. They came; applied poultices,
and again leeches, and enjoined the strictest repose.
The pain was severe; but to one of the marquis’s
temperament, the enforced quiet was worse.
