The Return of the Campbells .....Chapter 10

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AnneM
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The Return of the Campbells .....Chapter 10

Post by AnneM » Sun Sep 04, 2005 11:28 pm

The return of the Campbells


In her small bedroom, Sarah is seated at her dressing table looking critically in the mirror and putting up her hair. She is not satisfied in the least with what she sees. The young woman gazing back at her is rather pale and has dark smudges under her blue eyes. Rummaging among the hair pins on her dressing table she finds a pot of rouge and applies a little, in the hope of brightening up her appearance. The effect is so unnatural that she tuts with disapproval and scrubs it off. She has long been resigned to the fact that her pale skin, dark hair and strong features rob her of any claim to beauty but today she feels more than usually discontented with her looks.

By dint of claiming to have a migraine, an affliction to which she had always been prone, Sarah has largely managed to avoid any contact with the Kerr family. By the time she had returned to the house the previous evening Sarah’s was, in all truth, suffering from quite a severe headache. This morning before going to church, Margaret looked in and enquired solicitously after her but was convinced by Sarah’s drawn appearance that her friend was still suffering.

A restless night had brought little sleep and few pleasant thoughts. As her appointment with Hugh McCallum draws nearer, she is increasingly prey to doubts. She has convinced herself that he will have thought better of his offer to introduce her to his friends. As always, during the hours of darkness all her fears have been magnified. Suppose Mrs Campbell is not the respectable lady she claims to be. Suppose Ninian discovers her plan to meet Hugh and regards it as further evidence of her depravity. Never has she felt less enthusiasm for a meeting and only the certainty that there is no other means of escape prevents her from simply failing to keep her tryst with Hugh.

Despite her reservations she makes every effort with her appearance, combing out the sides of her hair to give a fashionably soft look before sweeping it up into a roll at the back. This task accomplished, she picks up her boater with the navy ribbon and begins to pin it to her coiffure. Suddenly she thinks better of this and, reaching up to the top of her wardrobe, pulls down the hat box which contains her new hat, a very fetching blue straw with a wide brim cleverly enhanced with carefully placed artificial flowers. She assures herself that her purpose in wearing this work of art is not to impress Hugh McCallum but to persuade the fashionable Mrs Campbell that her uninvited guest is, at least, not dowdy. In any event she feels her courage rise as she perches this creation at a jaunty angle and stabs it enthusiastically with hat pins.

Once she is as satisfied as she can be, she begins the perilous journey to the front door. This time her luck has run out and, no sooner has she started on her way, than she is greeted by Margaret. “Sarah! Are you feeling better, then? You still look very pale. I’ve been wanting to talk to you all day about the final plans for my wedding. Do you think I should carry pink roses or cream?”

“I’m sorry, Margaret. I’ve made arrangements to walk with a friend. I’d love to discuss the wedding but can we do it when I come back?”

Margaret is too persistent to be content with generalities, “Where are you going, Sarah and who are you going with? Are you sure you are well enough to go out yet? You still look sick to me. Has you head stopped aching?”

If Sarah’s headache had begun to clear, it returns with renewed vigour under Margaret’s barrage of questions. She has to think quickly “We’re going to walk in the Botanic Gardens. I’m going with my friend. You have not met her. She has just come to Edinburgh.” Desperate to make her expedition sound sufficiently dull to discourage Margaret from offering to join her, she adds “She is a most worthy young woman, recently arrived from....er......Aberdeen. Her name is...er .....Miss Reid and I met her at the literary society.”

“Oh, a book person” To Sarah’s relief Margaret has begun to lose interest until she suddenly notices something unusual, “But Sarah! You’re wearing your beautiful new hat! You sly thing! Are you sure you are not going to meet a young man?”

“Of course not, Margaret! How could you think that?” Then drawing inspiration from Margaret herself, she tries to look coquettish and adds “But there may be gentlemen in the gardens.”

Thoroughly satisfied with this perfectly reasonable explanation, Margaret lets her pass but adds, “Don’t dare go to your room when you return without speaking to me. We have so much still to discuss and Mama is indisposed again and Susan is no help at all!”

“I won’t” promises Sarah dashing towards the door, by now convinced that Hugh will have given up waiting, believing her to have changed her mind about meeting him.

Despite Sarah’s misgivings, Hugh is still standing at the corner of the square once she makes her escape. Her apologies and excuses over, they set off to walk smartly towards Inverleith, Sarah matching Hugh pace for pace. After a little while their mutual awkwardness starts to wear off and they begin to chat a little. Sarah is pleased to note that, although Hugh is fundamentally of a serious turn of mind, he is not lacking in humour. Eventually she plucks up courage to ask him a little about himself and is amused by his tales of life in his Argyll village. In many ways it seems little different from her own childhood years in the Borders.

“What will you do once your studies have finished?” she asks.

Hugh again sounds uncertain but ventures, “I don’t want to take anything for granted but a university friend of Mr Campbell’s has been appointed minister in Blantyre, where they have a beautiful new Scottish Church and he thinks he will be able to get me a post there. They’re crying out for doctors and I could do so much good.”

Sarah is momentarily puzzled by this ambition. “Blantyre in Lanarkshire?” she queries.

“Oh no, Miss Redpath, I should have explained properly, Blantyre in Nyasaland.”

As always, Sarah feels rising excitement at the mention of foreign lands but, thinking of poor little Lizzie, feels obliged to ask, “Are there not enough poor sick people in Scotland who need help Mr McCallum?”

“Indeed there are, Miss Redpath but there is so much to be done in Africa to help the natives. And don’t you think it’s quite exciting? The mission station in Blantyre is still quite poor and small though they have the new Church but they’ve brought so many natives to the Lord. Now they need help for their bodies as well as their souls. I would not think of staying there for ever but it would be such a great thing to be involved in.”

Hugh’s enthusiasm is infectious. To avoid getting completely caught up in it Sarah asks, “What made you think of going to Africa, Mr McCallum?”

At this question Hugh looks slightly sheepish. “I hope you are not shocked by this story Miss Redpath but when I was a child the tinkers often came to our glen to howk tatties and sell the things they made. Among them was an old woman, we called her Granny McPhee, who claimed to have Romany blood and have the second sight. All the village children were terrified of her. She had long black and grey hair which hung loose, a wrinkled brown face and only about 2 teeth in her mouth……and she smoked a pipe as well. One evening when my brothers and I were coming home from school she was at the door of our house trying to sell clothes pegs to my mother. Suddenly, when she saw me she let out a weird cry and grabbed me by the arm and said something like ‘This boy will travel far across the sea to where the sun beats on a harsh land. Many people will have cause to bless him but he won’t leave his bones in Scottish soil.’ I was never so scared in my whole life but from that moment I could not stop thinking about Africa and travelling there, like Dr Livingstone. My mother is from the Islands, you know, and very fey. She believes that wise women can tell fortunes and was very upset. She did not let me out of her sight for about a fortnight because she thought the tinkers meant to steal me away. I don’t know what use she thought I would be to them!”

Sarah’s prosaic Borderer soul revolts against such whimsy and she realises that, contrary to appearances, the serious young Mr McCallum has a turn for the dramatic. She wonders if she should disapprove, suspecting that Ninian would condemn a belief in fortune telling as irreligious. She recalls that Willie Redpath had grown up in Yetholm, the home of the Scottish Gypsies, the Faa family, and that when he began to tell stories about them Betty would frown severely and urge him not to fill the children’s heads with heathen nonsense. However the ambition, however formed, is perfectly laudable and she has certainly heard that Highlanders have some queer ways so she contents herself by saying. “I hope you achieve your ambition. Mr McCallum”

Accordingly, in perfect friendliness they continue on their way to the Campbells’ elegant house, set in a pretty garden in Inverleith. Once they are admitted by a smartly uniformed maid who offers to see if Mrs Campbell is at home, Hugh turns to Sarah and says “Would you mind waiting here just for a little while I explain something of your story to Mrs Campbell?”

“No indeed, “she replies “I would find myself very much embarrassed by having to explain it all myself.”
Once Hugh is whisked off by the maid into her mistress’ presence Sarah’s anxieties return. What had seemed previously a perfectly reasonable plan to visit Mrs Campbell now feels like a shocking intrusion. Fortunately, when Hugh returns after not too long an absence he is smiling and beckons to her to join him. “Mrs Campbell is so looking forward to meeting you. Do come through Miss Redpath.”

It is therefore with only a little trepidation that Sarah follows Hugh into the drawing room where she is greeted by a very fashionably attired little lady with carefully arranged blonde hair. Noting Mrs Campbell’s smart appearance, Sarah is grateful for the impulse that made her put on her best hat. Her hostess is indeed quite a young woman but Sarah realises with sympathy that her undoubtedly pretty face bears the prematurely aging marks of suffering. As she greets them she rises slowly from her chaise longue, with the aid of a stick but when Hugh moves to help her she waves him away.

“No, no Hugh. I must manage by myself. You know that dear Dr Forsyth says I must move around as much as possible on my own if I do not want to end up in a bath chair before I am 40, which would be very inconvenient. Now my dearest boy, I have a little task for you. Nurse has taken Master Archie and Master Jack to the gardens, with strict instructions not to let them play ball where they will be seen and scandalise the Presbyterian Scots. By now the poor girl will be demented trying to make them behave soberly. You must go and rescue her and keep the dear little boys company while Miss Redpath and I have a nice chat and become much better acquainted.”

Torn between reluctance to abandon Sarah, a faintly disloyal feeling of disapproval of Mrs Campbell’s light treatment of the Sabbath and an overwhelming desire to please her, Hugh yields to the last of these and dutifully sets off for the gardens, where he is greeted with relief by a harassed nurse and with enthusiasm by the two lively small boys who know him as a willing playmate.

Back in the drawing room, Sarah finds herself alone with her hostess and again begins to feel somewhat nervous. She is however reassured when that lady says kindly, “Now Miss Redpath, or may I call you Sarah and you must call me Caroline, I understand you find yourself in difficulties through no fault of your own. Please, do feel you can tell me all about it.”

Her nerves stretched to breaking point and charmed by Caroline’s beauty, obvious courage and gentle tones, Sarah surprises herself by tearfully pouring out her whole story, from the revelation about her birth and Effie and old Adam’s unconventional marriage to her embarrassment with Adam and the contretemps with Ninian. She has never before told another soul her history and when it is greeted by a short silence from Caroline, she asks anxiously, “You are shocked, Mrs Campbell?”

“No of course not,” replies Caroline, not altogether truthfully. “However I would not tell Hugh until you are much better acquainted. He was very strictly brought up.”

Sarah is not altogether convinced firstly that she is going to be much better acquainted with Hugh or secondly that, however religious his family, he would be shocked by the circumstances of her birth. Having a much more realistic view of Scottish village life than Caroline she doubts if he would find it other than commonplace. She has however by now begun to suspect that arguing with Caroline would be fruitless.

In this belief she is certainly justified. Something of the old impulsive Caroline has survived marriage, motherhood and disability. She has taken an immediate liking to Sarah and what is more has decided that she is the ideal wife for Hugh. Many pain-filled sleepless hours have been lightened by plotting to find a partner for her husband’s protégé, for whom she feels considerable affection. If the thought had ever occurred to her that Hugh, however shy, was perfectly capable of choosing his own mate, or more tellingly that at an early stage in his career he would be best not to burden himself with a wife and the inevitable family, she had pushed it firmly aside. Instead she had concentrated on identifying a suitable young woman, not afraid to work hard, sufficiently well educated to be an interesting companion to a young doctor but willing to overlook the minor impediments of Hugh’s humble origins and lack of money. Just when it seemed that this girl might be as easy to locate as a unicorn, Hugh has himself presented her to Caroline in the shape of Sarah.

The fact that Sarah has money of her own does her no dis-service in Caroline’s eyes. Her birth is of course unfortunate. Whatever Sarah may say about the belated marriage of her parents rendering her respectable, Caroline cannot conceive that the laws of even such a backward country as Scotland could deem her to be other than born in bastardy. However given that her father’s relations are worthy people and have recognised her, this is surely not an insuperable hurdle.

One must of course be concerned about the disposition of a young woman who has for so many years lived with a deception about her identity. Keen to do Sarah justice, Caroline admits that she had no option and that the charade was forced upon her by her elders. Indeed the relief with which she unburdened herself can only suggest a naturally truthful character.

Where the fracas involving Adam is concerned, Caroline is convinced that Sarah is far less to blame than she imagines. The very pretty daughter of a general, she has no shortage of experience of arrogant young men who cannot believe that any woman could find them resistable. In fact, even once she was promised to James, she had to rap one particularly persistent young Captain firmly with her parasol to convince him of her lack of interest. It seems to her that Adam is just another such and she therefore places the blame firmly where it belongs. Although she might not admit it to herself, she is also reassured by the fact that Sarah is not at all the kind of girl that her husband would find attractive. She has no doubts of his fidelity but equally knows well that an invalid wife must be a strain for a young man.

“My dear Sarah,” she asks “Would you consider doing me the honour of being my guest for a while? Please don’t think that I am only offering to help you out of your awkward situation. You would be doing me a great favour. I think that Hugh may have told you that I was thinking of engaging a companion. I can’t go out as often as I would like and I do so much miss female company. I have no sisters, my Mama died when I was very young so that I barely knew her and now I will never have a daughter.” She sighs faintly.

“Are you an only child?”

“No indeed. I have a brother but he is very much older that I am and a military man like my beloved Papa. Look, “ Caroline opens a heavy old fashioned locket which she wears around her neck and shows a miniature of a rather delicate looking young woman, her blonde hair dressed in the demure ringlets which must already have been going out of fashion when the picture was painted, “That is my dear Mama. I believe she was very gently reared, the daughter of an archdeacon, you know.” The other side of the locket contains three locks of hair ranging from the mid blonde of the picture to almost white arranged in a fleur de lys pattern, “And these are locks from my Mama and the two little brothers who died before I was born. I know it is rather mawkish for modern taste but my dearest Papa was rather old fashioned and a great sentimentalist.”

Sarah glances doubtfully at the portrait on the wall of the rather fierce looking, be-whiskered gentleman who must be the late General Sir John Hyde. Caroline catches her look.

“No indeed. You must not be misled by appearances, He was the sweetest Papa a girl could have and though he died 5 years ago I still miss him terribly. I think my brother was rather jealous but I don’t know him very well. He was away at school before I was born and then joined the army. We don’t keep in regular touch. His wife is an excellent woman, the daughter of a Baron and very correct, but she does not approve of me at all. She thinks I’m too frivolous and no doubt believes that my accident was a judgement on me, which it may have been. A sober mother of two sons should know better than to go hunting but James and I were staying for New Year with an old school friend of mine. She offered to lend me a horse. I had not hunted for years and the weather was just perfect, a light frost. I put my horse at a brush fence and instead of jumping it she got tangled in the brush and pitched me over. At first they thought I had broken my neck but fortunately my spine is only somewhat damaged. The greatest sadness is that there might have been, perhaps……my much wanted daughter…. but one should not talk about these things.” Caroline shakes her head “Fortunately the horse came to no harm. She seemed to be such a nice little horse too, a dear little grey mare, but horses are tricky animals, don’t you think.”

Sarah whose closest acquaintance with a horse had stemmed from occasionally begging a ride behind the coal carter’s placid Clydesdale, thus earning herself a clip from Betty for a dirty frock can only nod mutely in agreement.

Mercifully Caroline is still in full flow, “Perhaps we will all soon ride in those motorised carriages that the dreadful Germans are designing. What do you think, Sarah? Is that the way of the future?”

Sadly Sarah’s knowledge of science and technology is, if anything, scantier than her knowledge of horses but she feels bound to comment, “It seems likely. But would they not damage the road and make a lot of noise and smoke.”

“I daresay, but they may catch on” responds Caroline losing interest in the internal combustion engine. “I wonder when Hugh will return with my sweet little cherubs. Whatever I may have lost at least I still have my beloved husband James and my two precious little boys, Archibald and John. We call the younger Jack and the elder Sir Archie because that is what he is likely to be. The present Sir Archibald, my father in law, is the laird. My husband’s eldest brother and his wife who live on the estate have no children. His second brother is a soldier, a Major, and devoted to the army. He is bachelor, you know, but a very good officer. They say he takes a fatherly interest in the younger men.”

It is fortunate that the full import of this remark is lost on the relatively unsophisticated Sarah or she might have turned and fled.

“I’m sure they are lovely children and I am looking forward to meeting Sir Archie and his little brother. I would be delighted to accept your very kind offer to allow me to stay with you.”

“I’m really pleased, my dear but I would urge you to make your peace with Mr Kerr. Whatever he may have said to you, the situation must have been a great stress to him. You must know, my dear, gentlemen never like to find themselves at fault however badly it may seem to us that they have behaved. I think it is always best if we apologise.”

“I had every intention of doing so.”

“Very wise. Your brother is after all a respected clergyman. I have heard that he is an excellent preacher but being an Anglican myself I don’t really hold with any but the shortest sermons. It would do you no good at all for it to be known that you left his house on bad terms. There is no doubt that it would reflect much worse on you than on him and you know how people talk. He must be fair and reasonable. Few men would concern themselves with their father’s natural daughter.”

Fortunately before Sarah can respond to this speech a commotion in the hall heralds the return of Hugh and young Masters Archibald and Jack. They tumble into the drawing room and are ordered by their Mama to bow properly to their guest Miss Redpath. Sarah smiles at the youngsters who are both very handsome but a as different as brothers can be. The elder a slightly solemn young man of 6 seems already to be preparing for the responsibility he will someday bear. The younger by contrast can barely stand still and has a real twinkle of mischief in his blue eyes.

“Now Hugh, Sarah and I have agreed that she will come to visit me for a while and cheer me up. And now we will all have tea because I can hear dear James coming home from visiting his friend.”

Sarah looks up to see a fairly handsome man in his thirties, of medium height with wavy brown hair and a small beard, enter the room. She is shocked to find herself thinking instantly that here is not a strong character like his wife. But the impression passes as he is set upon by two little boys shrieking “Papa, Papa.” Caroline smiles at her family and friends as she rings the bell for the maid to bring the tea.
Anne
Researching M(a)cKenzie, McCammond, McLachlan, Kerr, Assur, Renton, Redpath, Ferguson, Shedden, Also Oswald, Le/assels/Lascelles, Bonning just for starters

mjh
Posts: 19
Joined: Mon Jan 03, 2005 3:05 pm
Location: Nova Scotia

The return of the Campbells

Post by mjh » Mon Sep 05, 2005 1:06 am

Hi Anne, I enjoyed the latest chapter and as always I'm already waiting impatiently for the next. Do please continue to entertain and educate us. I always feel that you are hitting the right note with the period. I do enjoy this look into life in the past. :) Thank you. :D mjh
mjh

Alison Plenderleith
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Joined: Sun Feb 06, 2005 12:22 pm
Location: Leitholm, Scottish Borders
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Post by Alison Plenderleith » Mon Sep 05, 2005 10:40 am

Hurry up with the next instalment please, Anne.

Regards,

Alison :D

AnnetteR
Posts: 207
Joined: Sat Dec 11, 2004 2:45 pm
Location: Glasgow

Post by AnnetteR » Mon Sep 05, 2005 4:17 pm

Hi Anne

Gripping stuff as always. Keep them fingers tapping.

Cheers

Annette
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Researching in Fife: Wilson, Ramsay, Cassels/Carswell, Lindsay, Millar, Bowman and many others.
In Glasgow and West of Scotland: Aitchison, Wilkinson, Keenan, Black, Kinloch and Leiper.

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