“Annas, please,” she said quietly, with that sweet smile of hers. It is only when she smiles that she reminds me of her brother.
“And how are the Laird and Lady Monksburn?” said Flora.
I did not know that the Laird (as they always seem to call the squires here) had been a titled gentleman: and I said so. Annas smiled.
“Our titles will seem odd to you,” said she. “We call a Scots gentleman by the name of his estate, and every laird’s wife is ‘Lady’—only by custom and courtesy, you understand. My mother really is only Mrs Keith, but you will hear everybody call her Lady Monksburn.”
“Then if my father were here, they would call him—” I hesitated, and Flora ended the sentence for me.
“The Laird of Brocklebank; and if you had a mother she would be Lady Brocklebank.”
I thought it sounded rather pleasant.
“And when is Duncan coming home?” asked Flora.
“To-morrow, or the day after, we hope,” said Annas.
I noticed that she had less of the Scots accent than Flora; and Mr Keith has it scarcely at all. I found after a while that Lady Monksburn is English, and that Annas has spent much of her life in England. I wanted to know what part of England it was, and she said, “The Isle of Wight.”