The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1894-02-08

man In tield near the house. He stood
looking toward us, shading his eyes with
his hands. He gazed thus for perhaps hall
minute; then suddenly turning he made
off as il he were pursued by the enemy OF
mankind. 1t was Duncan. shouted te
him, waved his own pipes and but for til,
pace would have leaped down and run afte.
him. Compelled to keep my seat, struck
up again faster and fiercer and more dis.
cordantly than any piper blew since pipes
were invented by Adam.
The girls will sing, and the boys will shout.
And the ladies they will all turn out,
And we'n all feel gay when johnny comes
marching home.
AT last we were off the county road and
into the avenue--the avenue to Kilgour
House. | was blind and dizzy and dis
tracted. played, but heaven alone knows
what the tune was or how many tunes were
hashed up together. Up we went at a gal.
lcp, the barouche bounding like a ball when
1t struck stone, the horses dripping, the
driver like a ghost. Duncan had reached
the house and given the alarm, and people
were hurredly gathering on the lawn.
Heavens abovel There were my. mother
and Isabel and Sir Thomas Gordon and my
fatherl
made heartrending effort to strike up
1.-THE Highland Laddle" There was a
noise but no tune. Finding myself help.
less as n musician, got to my feet and
whirIed the pipes about my head in mad
exultation. Donald, too, unable any longer
to resist, rose, and snatching off his turban
waved also. Bruce charged down upon us,
every bristle on his back erect, and those
on the lawn looked as if they would fly.
Two hundred yards more to gol Could
the hOTspg ynauH ihnir
Bending forward, I struck at them with the
pipes, and they gave leap that nearly
broke the harness.
"Oa, it's weel we're so near the end" said
the Coachmau, I'm no used to thisn
threatened TO fling him from his seat,
and out went the lash In stinging coils that
made the frantic horses spring afresh I
could have gone faster than they did, and
beside my crazy turmoil of mind their ex-
citemept was tranquility itself. All the
experiences ! had gone through were as
nothing to the sensations of that moment
of transport and agony.
We dashed through gate and round
curve. Then all at once the horses were on
their launches as, without asking the
coachmaL's leave, / threw myself on the
reins. Before the wheels had stopped we
were on the ground, and those who had
been watching ourdcsperGte approach pale
as death and crying with joy and fright and
amnzement, were upon US.
The scene that followed Is not to be de-
scribed. The only person in II, outside OF
Tabal and Mahomet, who made any pre-
tense Of keeping his head was Donald, and
he afterward said he had never known
himself to act 80 much like an idiot. The
rest of US had not the least sembance Of
sanity. There is joy, they say, that kills.
Assuredly there is n joy that makes mad
and il was upon us then in raging force.
We We're deligiouS with an ecstasy that sent
our wits tiying like chaif in sudden blast.
In n single instant, so to speak, we were
whirled through million realms of poig-
nant feeling, The emotion Of a lifetime was
condensed intoonc burning moment, and in
the stress we acted as beings possessed. That
at any rate was Tabal's opinion cummuni-
Gated to me confdentially few day suhsa-
qucnt. -
In any case was In no condition to OBJ
serve minutely; consequently find it now
not only impossible to give an accurate ac-
count of the demonstration, but hard to
disentangle even the major impression.
Perhaps what remains with me most Wv
idly (after my dear mothers frenzed en-
brace) is that Sir Thomas Gordon, muir
muring words of gratitude for the service
had done him, took my hand and wept over
it like Il child, and that Isabel in the pres
ence of them all kissed me feryently on the
cheek
All, mel Inever could forget that. When
think OF il after the lapse of nearly half
century, that spot seems to glow with
youthful heat AS If it were the only part Of
me that keeps perpetually young 1t is on
the right cheek, pretty high up, and some.
times so to her and say, Isabel, Is there
red ring on that cheek of mine?h And
she, well knowing what | mean, Will an
swer with pleased smile and maybe u
slight htightening of tie color, flush, tushl
A man OF your years should be thinking Of
other thingsn Nor can deny she is right,
for man who has grandchildren climbing
over his knees ought not to be foolish,
though, as | tell her, ] can scarcely convict
myself Of foolishness since 1t does one good
to try to feel young again. But all that is
too far ahead OF this story to be gone into
here.
As you may suppose, awondrous fuss " as
made over Rance. Sir Thomas and Isabel,
to her unlItterable delight, welcomed her
cordially in her own tongue, and my father,
forgetting his antipathes to foreigners OF
her color, kissed her little brown hand iD
his grandest fashion, and my mother,
though sorely pGzzled what to make of
creature who dressed SO oddly and under
stood no English, received her with all the
warmth of heart that knew not how to
be cold. But indeed Ranee's pretty ways
were not to be resisted, and She was soon,
by virtue of her own good qualities, estRb.
lished as fayorte with all TO Isabel she
was az sister, and to my mother as
daughter.
should add that Tphal and Mahomet,
considerably to their embarrassment, came
in for liberal share Of the good will, and
that with Donald and Rance they long con-
tinued to be objects c, intense curiosity,
not merely to these Mt kilgour, but to the
whole countryside. Ia" general opinion
was that they had all come as part Of my
retinne, and every one suddenly remem-
bered hoT he or she had predicted speedy
wealth for me.
81 kunned ye would soon be back wi
fortune and wheen black men, sir" the
people would say when con2ratulatn ing me
on my happy return. 81 aye said So
Good cause had to wish that the fawn-
ing snppostion was true. The first glad
ness of my home coming was scarcely over
and the tale Of my adventures told when
began to suspect that things were as bad
with us as when | left that indeed they
were II great deal worse. My father being
taeiturn man. said litte to indicate press
ing trouble, but my dear mother, who used
to be the light of the place, now went about
with white, drawn face and eyes. that were
hardly ever dry.
At last her distress became so plain and
so painful TO me that one day the third or
fourth after my arriyal-when we We're
alone together, asked why she was so
troubled and il there was anything could
do for her. At this, throwing her arms
about cly neck, she laid her head on my
breast and sobbed so sorely that | could not
help crying for company.
MY darling mother" l said. what does
all this meani Tell me what is the mat