And now followed a pleasant time. Wastbeach was
the quietest of all quiet neighbourhoods; it was the
loveliest of spring summer weather; and the variety
of scenery on moor, in woodland, and on coast, within
easy reach of such good horsewomen, was wonderful.
The first day they rested the horses that would rest,
but the next day were in the saddle immediately after
an early breakfast. They took the forest way.
In many directions were tolerably smooth rides cut,
and along them they had good gallops, to the great
delight of Florimel after the restraints of Rotten
Row, where riding had seemed like dancing a minuet
with a waltz in her heart. Malcolm, so far as
human companionship went, found it dull, for Lady Clementina’s
groom regarded him with the contempt of superior age,
the most contemptible contempt of all, seeing years
are not the wisdom they ought to bring, and the first
sign of that is modesty. Again and again his
remarks tempted Malcolm to incite him to ride Kelpie,
but conscience, the thought of the man’s family,
and the remembrance that it required all his youthful
strength, and that it would therefore be the challenge
of the strong to the weak, saved him from the sin,
and he schooled himself to the endurance of middle
aged arrogance. For the learning of the lesson
he had practice enough: they rode every day,
and Griffith did not thaw; but the one thundering
gallop he had every morning along the sands with Kelpie,
whom * no ordinary day’s work was enough to save
from the heart burning ferment of repressed activity,
was both preparation and amends for the annoyance.
* [According to the grammars, I ought to have written
which, but it will not do. I could, I think,
tell why, but prefer leaving the question to the reader.]
When his mistress mentioned the proposal of her friend
with regard to the new novel, he at once expressed
his willingness to attempt compliance, fearing only,
he said, that his English would prove offensive and
his Scotch unintelligible. The task was nowise
alarming to him, for he had read aloud much to the
schoolmaster, who had also insisted that he should
read aloud when alone, especially verse, in order
that he might get all the good of its outside as well
as inside—its sound as well as thought,
the one being the ethereal body of the other.
And he had the best primary qualifications for the
art, namely, a delight in the sounds of human speech,
a value for the true embodiment of thought, and a
good ear, mental as well as vocal, for the assimilation
of sound to sense. After these came the quite
secondary, yet valuable gift of a pleasant voice,
manageable for reflection; and with such an outfit,
the peculiarities of his country’s utterance,
the long drawn vowels, and the outbreak of feeling
in chant-like tones and modulations, might be forgiven,
and certainly were forgiven by Lady Clementina, who,
even in his presence, took his part against the objections
Copyrights
The Marquis of Lossie from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.
