The trustee nodded quickly. “Yes, Joseph; she is perfectly well,” he said. “A very lovely girl, your young lady, and we are all very fond of her here. Now you want to see her, I am sure, and here is the door opening. I will send for the children at once.”
The trustee would have liked to stay a few minutes to ask this queer retainer a question or two about the Heron children and their people; but the eagerness of the man was so piteous, his attempts to conceal it so hopeless, that the kind trustee had mercy. Besides, James had opened the door, only to fall into a kind of fit at sight of his goblin of the past summer. He was now behind the door, holding it well between him and the strange visitor, and admonishing his favourite saints, in a terrified gabble, to stand by him now and save him from being pixy-rid. But Joe had no eyes now for James, or anybody his like. He had found a gentleman, and the gentleman was going to take him to his young lady; this was enough to fill Joe’s world very full, and he only fixed, in passing, a vacant stare on the unhappy porter, which sent cold shivers down the latter’s back, and made him feel that he had got the evil eye on him this time, and no mistake.
The trustee passed on up the wide staircase, Joe following humbly at his heels, keeping step exactly, and standing motionless whenever he paused for a moment. The man’s action was so exactly that of a good dog, that the trustee turned round once or twice on the way up, to make sure that his follower was indeed human. But suddenly Joe paused, with a broken exclamation.
“There now! there now! I want to know if I forgot that! I want to know if I did, after all my plannin’ and contrivin’.”
The trustee turned round, and saw his companion fumbling awkwardly in his breast. He drew out a small object wrapped in coarse brown paper, and held it out with a piteous look.
“See here! gentleman,” he said. “I meant to send this to Isly first; that’s what I meant to do. I meant to send it in by the putty-faced feller, and tell how the man that brought it was there, and had more where that came from.” He unfolded the paper with trembling fingers, and held out the goldstone brooch.
“That’s handsome, ain’t it?” he said, anxiously. “That’s handsome enough for a young lady like Isly, ain’t it, gentleman? That’s what ladies wear, round in city parts?”
The trustee examined the brooch gravely.
“A fine piece of goldstone, Joseph. I never saw a prettier piece; yes, Isla will surely be pleased with that. But don’t you think it would be just as well to give it directly to her? I think she might be better pleased if you gave it to her yourself. Wait here a moment, and I will bring both the children; or, there is Miss Stewart; I will ask her to bring them.”
A few words told Miss Stewart the nature of the new arrival; after a curious glance at the fish-like visitor, she sped away. The kind trustee waited, saying a word now and then to Joe, trying to make him feel at ease, pointing out this and that picture on the walls; but the islander paid little heed. His eyes were fixed on the door; he sat on the edge of his chair, turning the brooch absently in his fingers; he was listening so intently that the trustee fancied he could almost see his ears prick from under the wisps of sandy hair. Presently there came a sound of feet on the stair, and Joe started up with an inarticulate sound, between a whistle and a cry. The trustee heard three distinct footfalls, but Joe heard only one.