"I have done it now!" thought Ellen, as she sat in the corner of the sofa, where Mr. Lindsay had tenderly placed her; "I have called him my father; I am bound to obey him after this. I wonder what in the world they will make me do next. If he chooses to make me drink wine every day, I must do it! I cannot help myself. That is only a little matter. But what if they were to want me to do something wrong? they might; John never did I could not have disobeyed him, possibly! but I could them, if it was necessary and if it is necessary, I will! I should have a dreadful time I wonder if I could go through with it. Oh yes, I could, if it was right; and besides, I would rather bear anything in the world from them than have John displeased with me a great deal rather! But perhaps after all they will not want anything wrong of me. I wonder if this is really to be my home always, and if I shall never get home again! John will not leave me here! But I don't see how in the world he can help it, for my father and my mother, and I myself I know what he would tell me if he was here, and I'll try to do it. God will take care of me if I follow him: it is none of my business."
Simply and heartily commending her interests to his keeping, Ellen tried to lay aside the care of herself. She went on musing; how very different and how much greater her enjoyment would have been that day if John had been with her! Mr. Lindsay, to be sure, had answered her questions with abundant kindness and sufficient ability; but his answers did not, as those of her brother often did, skilfully draw her on from one thing to another, till a train of thought was opened, which at the setting out she never dreamed of; and along with the joy of acquiring new knowledge, she had the pleasure of discovering new fields of it to be explored, and the delight of the felt exercise and enlargement of her own powers, which were sure to be actively called into play. Mr. Lindsay told her what she asked, and there left her. Ellen found herself growing melancholy over the comparison she was drawing, and wisely went to the book-cases to divert her thoughts. Finding presently a history of Scotland, she took it down, resolving to refresh her memory on a subject which had gained such new and strange interest for her. Before long, however, fatigue and the wine she had drunk effectually got the better of studious thoughts; she stretched herself on the sofa and fell asleep.
There Mr. Lindsay found her a couple of hours afterwards, under the guard of the housekeeper.
"I cam in, Sir," she said, whispering "it's mair than an hour back, and she's been sleeping just like a babby ever syne; she hasna stirred a finger. O, Mr. Lindsay, it's a bonny bairn, and a gude. What a blessing to the house!"
"You're about right there, I believe, Maggie; but how have you learned it so fast?"
"I canna be mista'en, Mr. George; I ken it as weel as if we had a year auld acquentance; I ken it by thae sweet mouth and een, and by the look she gied me when you tauld her, Sir, I had been in the house near as lang's yoursel. An' look at her eenow. There's heaven's peace within, I'm a'maist assured."
The kiss that wakened Ellen found her in the midst of a dream. She thought that John was a king of Scotland, and standing before her in regal attire. She offered him, she thought, a glass of wine; but, raising the sword of state, silver scabbard and all, he with a tremendous swing of it, dashed the glass out of her hands; and then, as she stood abashed, he went forward with one of his old grave kind looks to kiss her. As the kiss touched her lips, Ellen opened her eyes, to find her brother transformed into Mr. Lindsay, and the empty glass standing safe and sound upon the table.
"You must have had a pleasant nap," said Mr. Lindsay; "you wake up smiling. Come make haste I have left a friend in the carriage. Bring your book along if you want it."
The presence of the stranger, who was going down to spend a day or two at "the Braes," prevented Ellen from having any talking to do. Comfortably placed in the corner of the front seat of the barouche, leaning on the elbow of the carriage, she was left to her own musings. She could hardly realize the change in her circumstances. The carriage rolling fast and smoothly on the two gentlemen opposite to her, one her father! the strange, varied, beautiful scenes they were flitting by the long shadows made by the descending sun the cool evening air Ellen, leaning back in the wide easy seat, felt as if she were in a dream. It was singularly pleasant; she could not help but enjoy it all very much; and yet it seemed to her as if she were caught in a net from which she had no power to get free; and she longed to clasp that hand that could, she thought, draw her whence and whither it pleased. "But Mr. Lindsay, opposite! I have called him my father I have given myself to him," she thought; "but I gave myself to somebody else first; I can't undo that and I never will!" Again she tried to quiet and resign the care of herself to better wisdom and greater strength than her own. "This may all be arranged easily in some way I could never dream of," she said to herself; "I have no business to be uneasy. Two months ago, and I was quietly at home, and seemed to be fixed there for ever; and now, and without anything extraordinary happening, here I am just as fixed. Yes, and before that, at Aunt Fortune's, it didn't seem possible that I could ever get away from being her child; and yet how easily all that was managed. And just so, in some way that I cannot imagine, things may open so as to let me out smoothly from this." She resolved to be patient, and take thankfully what she at present had to enjoy; and in this mood of mind, the drive home was beautiful; and the evening was happily absorbed in the history of Scotland.
It was a grave question in the family that same evening, whether Ellen should be sent to school. Lady Keith was decided in favour of it; her mother seemed doubtful; Mr. Lindsay, who had a vision of the little figure lying asleep on his library sofa, thought the room had never looked so cheerful before, and had near made up his mind that she should be its constant adornment the coming winter. Lady Keith urged the school plan.