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And I watched and waited, with unconscious tears in my eyes, till the exquisite fairy vessel disappeared suddenly as though it had become absorbed and melted into the sun; then all at once I thought of the words spoken by the wild Highland 'Jamie' who had given me the token of the bell-heather "One way in and another way out!
Bands of scarlet took the place of oaken rafters; there were huge blocks of ice on the table, each set in a miniature lake that was filled with white water-lilies; there were masses of flowers and fruit from one end to the other; and by the side of each menu lay a tiny nosegay, in the centre of which was a sprig of bell-heather.
There was a moment's silence. Everyone stared. The blood burned in my veins, I felt my face crimsoning, yet I knew not why I should be embarrassed or at a loss for words. Santoris came to my relief. "There's nothing remarkable in that, is there?" he queried, lightly- "Bell-heather is quite common in this part of the world.
The breeze was blowing shoreward, tempering the warmth of the sun and bringing brine and the odour of seaweed to mingle with the perfume of bell-heather from the moors. Laddie stepped lightly beside his young friends, waving his tail in the air, and now and again pausing to investigate a rabbit-burrow or an interesting tuft of heather or cotton-grass.
'Now, said Cherry, 'you will all know bell-heather, the grasshopper, the lark, and the squirrel. 'Is this the lark's crest, or the squirrel's tail! said Felix, giving an elder brother's pull to the boy's highest wave of hair.
Fastening one of the snowy lilies in my waistband, as a contrast to the bright bit of bell-heather which I cherished even more than if it were a jewel, I presently went up on deck, where I found my host, Mr. Harland, Captain Derrick and Marino Fazio all talking animatedly together. "The mystery is cleared up," said Mr. Harland, addressing me as I approached "Captain Derrick is satisfied.
That was no sprig of blood-red bell-heather, but a bit of real heather of the common ling; and it was set amidst a few leaves of juniper. Now, the juniper is the badge of the Clan Macleod. She wore it next her heart. There was laughter, and wine, and merry talking. "Last May a braw wooer," the band played now; but they scarcely listened. "Where is your piper, Sir Keith?" said Lady Beauregard.
The square of the open door was filled with green and purple the green of the rank nettle, the purple of the bell-heather she had been always careful to spare as she had gone in and out. Who could it be? Her first thought was of some fisherman or sportsman late upon the hill and attracted by the smoke of the hut that had so long known no fire.
And who is this that is sitting there, clad in sailor-like blue and white, and laughing, as she talks in her soft English speech? He is telling her that, if she means to be a sailor's bride, she must give up the wearing of gloves on board ship, although, to be sure, those gloved small hands look pretty enough as they rest on the table and play with a bit of bell-heather. How bright her smile is.
Now let me think!" She slid downward among the heather, her face propped on her hands. Close beneath her eyes was an exquisite tuft of pink bell-heather intergrown with bunchberries. And while a whole vague series of thoughts and memories passed through her mind she was still vividly conscious of the pink bells, the small bright leaves.
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