An Orkney Maid Part 16

Surely then, a sympathy which can affect a nation has some influence upon the individual. Sunna had noticed even in her childhood that her dresses were lucky and unlucky, but the why or the wherefore of the circ.u.mstance had never troubled her. She had also noticed that her grandfather liked and disliked certain colours and modes, but she laid all their differences to difference in age.

This day, however, they were in perfect accord. He looked at her and nodded his head, and then smilingly asked: "How did thou find thy friend this morning?"

"So much in love that she had not one regret for Boris."

"Well, then, there is no reason for regret. Boris has taken the path of honour."

"That may be so, but for the time to come I shall put little trust in him. Going such a dubious way, he might well have stopped for a G.o.d Bless Thee!"

"Would thou have said that?"

"Why should we ask about things impossible? Dost thou know, Grandfather, at what time the recruiting party pa.s.sed Kirkwall?"

"n.o.body knows. I heard music out at sea three nights ago, just after midnight. There are no Shetland boats carrying music. It is more likely than not to have been the recruiting party saluting us with music as they went by."

"Yes! I think thou art right. Grandfather, I want thee to tell me what we are fighting about."

"Many times thou hast said 'it made no matter to thee.'"

"Now then, it is different. Since Boris and so many of our men went away, Mistress Ragnor and Thora talk of the war and of nothing but the war. They know all about it. They wanted to tell me all about it. I said thou had told me all that was proper for me to know, and now then, thou must make my words true. What is England quarrelling about?

It seems to me, that somebody is always looking at her in a way she does not think respectful enough."

"This war is not England's fault. She has done all she could to avoid it. It is the Great Bear of Russia who wants Turkey put out of Europe."

"Well, then, I heard the Bishop say the Turks were a disgrace to Europe, and that the Book of Common Prayer had once contained a pet.i.tion for delivery from the Devil, the Turks, and the comet, then flaming in the sky and believed to be threatening destruction to the earth."

"Listen, and I will tell thee the truth. The Greek population of Turkey, its Syrians and Armenians, are the oldest Christians in the world. They are also the most numerous and important cla.s.s of the Sultan's subjects. Russia also has a large number of Russian Christians in Turkey over whom she wants a protectorate, but these two influences would be thorns in the side of Turkey. England has bought favour for the Christians she protects, by immense loans of money and other political advantages, but neither the Turk nor the English want Russia's power inside of Turkey."

"What for?"

"Turkey is in a bad way. A few weeks ago the Czar said to England, 'We have on our hands a sick man, a very sick man. I tell you frankly, it will be a great misfortune if one of these days he should slip away from us, especially if it were before all necessary arrangements were made. The Czar wants Turkey out of his way. He wants Constantinople for his own southern capital, he wants the Black Sea for a Russian lake, and the Danube for a Russian river. He wants many other unreasonable things, which England cannot listen to."

"Well then, I think the Russian would be better than the Turk in Europe."

"One thing is sure; in the hour that England joins Russia, Turkey will slay every Christian in her territories. Dost thou think England will inaugurate a huge ma.s.sacre of Christians?"

"That is not thinkable. Is there nothing more?"

"Well then, there is India. The safety of our Indian Empire would be endangered over the whole line between East and West if Russia was in Constantinople. Turkey lies across Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor and Armenia, and above all at Constantinople and the Straits. Dost thou think England would ask Russia's permission every time she wished to go to India?"

"No indeed! That, itself, is a good reason for fighting."

"Yes, but the Englishman always wants a moral backbone for his quarrel."

"That is as it should be. The Armenian Christians supply that."

"But, Sunna, try and imagine to thyself a great military despotic Power seating itself at Constantinople, throwing its right hand over Asia Minor, Syria and Egypt; and its left holding in an iron grip the whole north of two continents; keeping the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus closed whenever it was pleased to do so, and building fleets in Egypt; and in Armenia, commanding the desirable road to India by the Euphrates."

"Oh, that could not be suffered! Impossible! All the women in Kirkwall would fight against such a condition."

"Well, so matters stand, and we had been at sword points a year ago but for Lord Aberdeen's cowardly, pernicious love of peace. But he is always whining about 'war destroying wealth and commerce'--as if wealth and commerce were of greater worth than national honour and justice and mercy."

"Yet, one thing is sure, Grandad; war is wasteful and destructive----"

"And one thing is truer still--it is this--_that national wealth is created by peace for the very purpose of defending the nation in war_.

Bear this in mind. Now, it seems to me we have had enough of war. I see Elga coming with a dish of good Scotch collops, and I give thee my word that I will not spoil their savour by any unpleasant talk." Then he poured a little fine Glenlivet into a good deal of water and said: "Here's first to the glory of G.o.d! and then to the honour of England!"

And Sunna touched his gla.s.s with her gla.s.s and the little ceremony put both in a very happy mood.

Then Sunna saw that the moment she had waited for had arrived and she said: "I will tell thee a good story of Robert Burns to flavour thy collops. Will that be to thy wish?"

"It is beyond my wish. Thou can not tell me one I do not know."

"I heard one today from Thora Ragnor that I never heard thee tell."

"Then it cannot be fit for thee and Thora Ragnor to repeat."

"Wilt thou hear it?"

"Is it about some girl he loved?"

"No, it is about a man he scorned. Thou must have heard of Andrew Horner?"

"Never heard the creature's name before."

"Then the story will be fresh to thee. Will thou hear it now?"

"As well now, as later." For Adam really had no expectation of hearing anything he had not already heard and judged; and he certainly expected nothing unusual from the proper and commonplace Thora Ragnor.

But Sunna exerted all her facial skill and eloquence, and told the clever incident with wonderful spirit and delightful mimicry. Adam was enchanted; he threw down his knife and fork and made the room ring with laughter and triumph so genuine that Sunna--much against her will--was compelled to laugh with him. They heard the happy thunder in the kitchen, and wondered whatever was the matter with the Master.

"It is Robert Burns, his own self, and no other man. It is the best thing I have heard from 'the lad that was born in Kyle!'" Vedder cried. "Ill-natured! Not a bit of it! Just what the Horner man deserved!" Then he took some more collops and a fresh taste of Glenlivet, and anon broke into laughter again.

"Oh! but I wish I was in Edinburgh tonight! There's men there I would go to see and have my laugh out with them."

"Grandfather, why should we not go to Edinburgh next winter? You could board me with Mistress Brodie, and come every day to sort our quarrels and see that I was properly treated. Then you could have your crow over the ignoramuses who did not know such a patent Burns story; and I could take lessons in music and singing, and be learning something or seeing something, every hour of my life."

"And what about Boris?"

"The very name of Boris tires my tongue! I can do without Boris."

"Well, then, that is good! Thou art learning 'the grand habit of doing without.'"

"Wilt thou take me to Edinburgh? My mother would like thee to do that.

I think I deserve it, Grandfather; yes, and so I ask thee."

"If I was going, I should have no mind to go without thee. One thing I wish to know--in what way hast thou deserved it?"

"I did not expect thee to ask me a question like that. Have I fretted and pined, and forgot to eat and sleep, and gone dowdy and slovenly, because my lover has been fool enough to desert me? Well, then, that is what any other girl would have done. But because I am of thy blood and stock, I take what comes to me as part of my day's work, and make no more grumble on the matter than one does about bad weather. Is that not the truth?"

"One thing is sure--thou art the finest all round girl in the Orcades."