Ronald laughed; but her father was too busy to attend to such idiotcy.
'Even if you would rather remain in the old country,' he continued, 'and enjoy an out-of-door life, why should you not make use of what you already know? I have heard you talk about the draining of soil, and planting of trees, and so on: well, look here now. I have been inquiring into that matter; and I find that the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland grants certificates for proficiency in the theory and practice of forestry. Why shouldn't you try to gain one of those certificates; and then apply for the post of land-steward? I'll bet you could manage an estate as well as most of them who are at it—especially one of those Highland sporting estates. And then you would become a person of importance; and not be at any lordship's beck and call; you would have an opportunity of beginning to make a fortune, if not of making one at once; and if you wanted to marry, there would be a substantial future for you to look to.'
'And then you would come over and see us at Chicago,' said Miss Carry. 'We live on North Park Avenue; and you would not feel lonely for want of a lake to look at—we've a pretty big one there.'
'But the first step—about the certificate?' said Ronald doubtfully—though, indeed, the interest that these two kindly people showed in him was very delightful, and he was abundantly grateful, and perhaps also a trifle bewildered by these ambitious and seductive dreams.
'Well, I should judge that would be easy enough,' continued Mr. Hodson, again referring to his note-book in that methodical, slow-mannered way of his. 'You would have to go to Edinburgh or Glasgow, and attend some classes, I should imagine, for they want you to know something of surveying and geology and chemistry and botany. Some of these you could read up here—for you have plenty of leisure, and the subjects are just at your hand. I don't see any difficulty about that. I suppose you have saved something now, that you could maintain yourself when you were at the classes?'
'I could manage for a while,' was the modest answer.
'I have myself several times thought of buying an estate in the Highlands,' Mr. Hodson continued, 'if I found that I have not forgotten altogether how to handle a gun; and if I did so, I would give you the management right off. But it would not do for you to risk such a chance; what you want is to qualify yourself, so that you can take your stand on your own capacity, and demand the market value for it.'
Well, it was a flattering proposal; and this calm, shrewd-headed man seemed to consider it easily practicable—and as the kind of thing that a young man in his country would naturally make for and achieve; while the young lady on the sofa had now thrown aside the pretence of knitting, and was regarding him with eloquent eyes, and talking as if it were all settled and attained, and Ronald already become an enterprising and prosperous manager, whom they should come to see when they visited Scotland, and who was certainly to be their guest when he crossed the Atlantic. No wonder his head was turned. Everything seemed so easy—why, both she and her father appeared to be surrounded, when at home, with men who had begun with nothing and made fortunes. And then he would not be torn away altogether from the hills. He might still have a glimpse of the dun deer from time to time; there would still be the dewy mornings by lake and strath and mountain-tarn, with the stumbling on a bit of white heather, and the picking it and wearing it for luck. And if he had to bid farewell to Clebrig and Ben Loyal and Ben Hope and Bonnie Strath-Naver—well, there were other districts far more beautiful than that, as well he knew, where he would still hear the curlew whistle, and the grouse-cock crow in the evening, and the great stags bellow their challenge through the mists of the dawn. And as for a visit to Chicago?—and a view of great cities, and harbours, and the wide activities of the world?—surely all that was a wonderful dream, if only it might come true!
'I'm sure I beg your pardon,' said he, rising, 'for letting ye talk all this time about my small affairs. I think you'll have a quieter day to-morrow; the wind has backed to the east; and that is a very good wind for this loch. And I've brought the minnows that I took to mend; the kelts are awful beasts for destroying the minnows.'
He put the metal box on the mantelpiece. They would have had him stay longer—and Miss Carry, indeed, called reproaches down on her head that she had not asked him to smoke nor offered him any kind of hospitality—but he begged to be excused. And so he went out and got home through the cold dark night—to his snug little room and the peat-fire, and his pipe and papers and meditations.