Chapter 9: Departure

“But none shall more regretful leave
These waters and these hills than I,
Or distant fonder dream how eve
Or dawn is painting wave and sky.”
Whittier.

NOTHING would deter General Macdonald from placing Mysie at school. He came over to Rowena with a most cheerful face, and introduced his friend, a Colonel Cavanagh, to her. He was an Irishman, and Rowena could see at once that his cheery personality had already done the laird good.

“Cavanagh knows of a first-rate school in Edinburgh, where his own daughters are, and I have written to the lady, and she says she can take Mysie at once. The term will be just beginning.”

“Then it is all arranged?” queried Rowena. “I hope you have asked her to be lenient to the poor little wild bird when first she is caged?”

“Oh,” said Colonel Cavanagh, with a hearty laugh; “Miss Gordon has had experience with wild birds. My girls were as wild as hawks when first she took them; but she has a way with her, and they’re quite devoted to her now.”

“That sounds nice! Mysie can be led easier than driven.”

“Miss Arbuthnot has seen me do the heavy father so often that she speaks from experience,” said the General.

“No,” said Rowena, “you have got Mysie’s affection. Nothing matters when that is won.”

Then General Macdonald told her he was going over to Ireland with his friend for a visit.

“And we’ll send him back ten years younger,” said the cheery Colonel. “He wants to laugh more and think less. We’re not given to deep thinking in Ireland.”

They did not stay long. As they walked away from the house, Colonel Cavanagh said:

“I’d soon lose my heart to that woman. Why, hasn’t she bucked you up, old chap? The very look of her does one good. It’s amazing how a woman on her back can get so much fun out of life.”

“I’m very fond of Miss Arbuthnot,” said General Macdonald, in his simple way. “We have been good chums since I came back, and my small daughter adores her.”

Colonel Cavanagh looked at his friend with a spark of amusement in his eye.

“Ah, well, she’s not dangerous, down on her back. If she were up and about, it would be a different matter.”

General Macdonald said nothing. He would not be drawn. Mysie came over to wish Rowena good-bye; and there were some tears shed.

“Of course, I’m not a baby,” she said valiantly; “and Dad says I shall be home for Christmas, and he’ll be here too, but I feel as if I’m going to be a prisoner now. And if it gets beyond bearing, I shall run away. I know I shall, and then what will happen?”

“You will be caught and sent back again. I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Only cowards run away from disagreeables. A Flora Macdonald never would!”

Mysie tossed her curls back and snorted like a thoroughbred horse.

“Of course I couldn’t be a coward. Didn’t you say Flora Macdonald went to school in Edinburgh?”

“Yes, I believe so, but I don’t know where.”

“How wonderful if it was my school she went to!” Rowena laughed.

“I imagine it was,” she said.

And Mysie’s wonderful eyes grew dreamy and soft, as she thought of her heroine.

She went off fairly happy; but Rowena felt, when both father and child had gone, as if she were bereft of all her friends. If it had not been for Mrs. Macintosh and her son, these autumn months would have been very lonely. The lodges and shooting boxes were soon vacated, and the country round became deserted; wet and storms set in. But Rowena’s spirits were never down for long. She was deep in her Highland book, and her bright wood fire and cosy comfort all round her prevented her from feeling the inclemency of the weather. She wrote continually to her brother, and her Indian letters were the delight of her heart. Occasionally the young doctor arrived over to see her. Shags was her constant companion, and Granny was always ready to come in for a “crack.”

Snow fell towards the end of November, and Rowena lay looking out at the fairy-like scene with keen enjoyment.

Mrs. Macintosh paid her a visit before it went. She arrived over in a sledge.

“You brave intrepid woman,” said Rowena, when she saw her. “How can you venture out in such weather?”

“I am very hardy. It is a real treat to have a talk with you, so don’t pity me. I only wish we were nearer you. It is an unnatural life for you to live. You are so young to be so much alone.”

“But I feel very matured and old,” said Rowena, “especially since my dear Mysie has left me. A child keeps one young.”

“Do you have good accounts of her?”

“We write to each other once a fortnight; I believe she is getting on, but a child never expresses her feelings as we should.”

“Her father has shut up his house for the winter?”

“I fancy he will come back for Mysie’s holidays.”

“I was so thankful that my match did not come off! I heard several things afterwards about Miss Falconer that surprised me very much. But I am sure she was in love with him.”

Rowena laughed; and Mrs. Macintosh said hurriedly:

“I know you think me an old gossip! But in the wilds here we can’t help taking an interest in our neighbours. And I would like to see the laird married again; he is not an old man, and he wants some one to brighten him up, and make him younger!”

“I think he’s having a good time over in Ireland,” said Rowena. “Perhaps he’ll bring back an Irish bride. He is in a house full of young people. Colonel Cavanagh has an old-fashioned family, five daughters and three boys, and three of his daughters have finished schooling and are at home.”