Part 8 (1/2)
She was still more surprised to see that his face was beaming with good nature, as he hailed the captain. But then, she did not, as yet, know Lawyer Edward Brians.
”Hech, Jamie, lad!” he shouted. ”Hoot! Awa wi ye, mon! Are ye no gaun tae get the fowk ash.o.r.e the nicht?”
And then there was a long outpouring of strange indistinguishable sounds, which caused the Ancient Mariner to stop smoking and expectorate into Lake Algonquin with a disgusted ”Huh!” For Lawyer Ed's Gaelic, though fluent, was a thing to make Highland ears shudder.
At the first appearance of the buggy, the captain had turned away in haughty silence, and went on with his task of seeing that his pa.s.sengers were safely landed, without so much as a glance at his talkative friend.
But his frigid reception seemed only to tickle Lawyer Ed's sense of amus.e.m.e.nt. He leaned back in his seat, shut up his eyes, and laughed loudly. ”Well, for downright pigheadedness and idiotic pertinacity, commend me to a Scotchman every time,” he cried delightedly.
He threw the lines over the dashboard, and sprang out of the buggy, straight, alert and vigorous.
”It's no use, your trying that air of dignity on me, Jimmie McTavis.h.!.+”
he cried, striding over the gang-plank. ”You nearly made me lose a train and a client into the bargain. And if I had lost him, that bit of business of yours wouldn't have been worth a puff of smoke, my braw John Hielanman!” He slapped the captain on the back, and a peculiar change came over the latter's face. There was no man in Algonquin who could remain angry at Lawyer Ed and be hammered by him on the back. He was voted the most exasperating person in the world, by people of all ages, and many a time an indignant individual would announce publicly that dire vengeance was about to be launched upon his wicked head. But when all Algonquin waited for the blow to fall, presently Lawyer Ed and the injured party would appear in the most jovial companions.h.i.+p, and once more his execution was postponed. It was as usual this time, the captain's wrath broke, shattered by that friendly blow upon the back.
He still kept up a show of taciturnity, by a grumbling monologue concerning the undignified procedure of Irishmen in general, but the Irishman laughed so loud that Captain Jimmie was deceived into thinking he had said something very witty indeed, and laughed too, in spite of himself.
”I'm hunting a young lady,” cried Lawyer Ed; ”the new teacher. Miss Armstrong hailed me in pa.s.sing and said I was to drive her up.”
”Oh, yes, Mr. Brians,” cried Alfred Wilbur, bustling up, ”she's over there. I was going to show her the way up myself. It's too bad to trouble you, when you're so busy.”
Lawyer Ed eyed him sternly.
”What! Do you think I'd allow you, in all your magnificence, to burst upon the vision of an innocent young girl, first go off, and have her fall in love with you, and get her heart broken? Not much, young man!
We'll bring you on the stage gradually. A few ugly old married men like Jimmie here, or a withered old bachelor like myself, will do as preliminaries, and in about six months or so,--ah, well, well,--How do you do, my dear young lady? I'm chairman of the school board and I just drove down to tell you that you are very welcome to Algonquin.”
He had pushed Afternoon Tea Willie quite out of sight and followed the captain to where the new teacher stood alone. He took her hand and shook it vigorously, his kind blue eyes beaming a welcome.
”I'm sure we are glad you've come!” he declared again, still more heartily, for he saw the homesickness in the big eyes. ”You'll be as happy here as a bob-o-link in a field of clover. I needn't ask you if Captain McTavish took good care of you on the way up. He couldn't help it, with that Hieland heart of his, eh, Jimmie, lad? Whenever we want to make a good impression upon a stranger, Miss Murray, we always see that he comes to Algonquin by boat, for by the time the _Inverness_ carries him for an afternoon, he's so prejudiced in our favour, he never gets over it. Eh, my braw John Hielanman?”
He slapped the captain on the back again, and his forgiveness was complete.
”Now, Miss Murray, I shall show you up to your new home. Give me your bag. Never mind, Alfred Tennyson. You trot round there and tell young Peter to see about that trunk. I'll send a wagon for it. Good-bye, Jimmie. I'll see you at the meeting to-morrow night.”
He helped Helen into his buggy and tucked the lap-rug around her, while Mr. Alfred Wilbur held his horse's head, though Lawyer Ed's horse, everyone knew, would stand for a week untethered. He jumped in and started off with a dash that nearly precipitated poor Afternoon Tea Willie into the lake, and away they rattled up the street to the utter discomfiture of the yellow dog and the yellow-and-white dog that were fighting in the middle of Main Street.
It was just the waiting time before the six-o'-clock bells and whistles would break forth into a joyful clamour and send every one out on the street; so the place was very quiet. The pretty streets rose up from the lake, all cool and shady under their green canopy. It was like a little town dropped down into the woods, and in spite of her homesickness and the quiet loneliness of it all, the new-comer felt a sensation of pleasure.
Lawyer Ed gave her no chance to be lonely. He chatted away cheerfully, pointing out this and that place of interest. As they turned off Main Street up a wide avenue of swaying elms, he touched his horse into greater speed, and leaning far over to one side, called her attention to something across the street.
”Look there, now!” he cried impressively. ”Isn't that a fine building?
Just take a good look at this, Miss Murray. I don't think that in all Algonquin there is a place like it.”
”I--I don't think I saw,” said Helen, looking about her puzzled, for they had pa.s.sed nothing but a row of very modest homes. She looked at him enquiringly, to find him leaning back, his eyes shut, and shaking with laughter.
”Never mind. Don't hurt your eyes, child. There's nothing there. But we've just pa.s.sed my office, on the opposite side, and I saw from the corner of my eye about a half-dozen people waiting for me, all in a bad humour. It's just as well that I shouldn't get a better view of them.
Tut, tut, don't apologise. I don't want to hurry back. Patience is a virtue every man should practise, and I believe in giving my clients a whack at it whenever I can. There's the Manse. I've heard Dr. Leslie speak of your father. We knew him by report if not personally. You'll find Doctor Leslie a fine pastor. He'll make you feel at home.”
He glanced back towards his office and laughed again. ”I'm trying to--well not exactly retire--but to ease off a bit on my business. And I'm going to have a partner, the son of an old friend. Why, he came part of the way on the boat with you.”
”Oh, yes, the young man who took the terrible leap,” she said. She did not want to confess she had met him before.
”That's nothing for Rod!” laughed Lawyer Ed. ”He'd jump twice that distance. Ah, he's a great lad, is Roderick. He's going to make another such man as his father, and that's about the highest praise I can give him. Old Angus McRae--well you must meet him to know what he's like. I believe I think more of Angus McRae--outside my own immediate family--than of any living person, of course always excepting Madame. Bless me! You haven't met her yet, of course?”