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Once broken, that law was henceforth an object of scorn, and the tail grew with frightful rapidity. It was indeed a great dragon. And none of the paltry fields about Rothieden should be honoured with its first flight, but from Bodyfauld should the majestic child of earth ascend into the regions of upper air.
When he went away, the two boys walked with him to The Boar's Head, caught a glimpse of his Hindoo attendant, much to their wonderment, received from the doctor a sovereign apiece and a kind good-bye, and returned to Bodyfauld. Dr. Anderson remained a few days longer at Rothieden, and amongst others visited Mrs. Falconer, who was his first cousin.
We're middlin' dacent up here; but the lave o' the place is dreadfu'. Eh for the bonnie leys o' Bodyfauld! Gin ye see my father, tell him I'm nane waur than I was. 'They think ye droont i' the Dyer's Pot, as they ca' 't. 'There I am again! she said 'miles awa' an' nae time to be lost! My lord has a man they ca' Mitchell. Ower weel I ken him.
'I wad like to see him. 'Wha will I say wants him? 'Say the laddie he saw at Bodyfauld. The man left Robert in the hall, which was spread with tiger and leopard skins, and had a bright fire burning in a large stove. Returning presently, he led him through noiseless swing-doors covered with cloth into a large library. Never had Robert conceived such luxury.
To a boy like Robert the changes of every day, from country to town with the gay morning, from town to country with the sober evening for country as Rothieden might be to Edinburgh, much more was Bodyfauld country to Rothieden were a source of boundless delight. Instead of houses, he saw the horizon; instead of streets or walled gardens, he roamed over fields bathed in sunlight and wind.
'Ye'll min', maybe, doctor, 'at ye war verra kin' to me ance, and tellt me lots o' stories at Bodyfauld, ye ken. 'I'm very glad to see you, Robert, said Dr. Anderson. 'Of course I remember you perfectly; but my servant did not bring your name, and I did not know but it might be the other boy I forget his name. 'Ye mean Shargar, sir. It's no him.
'We'll houp the best. All the remainder of the evening she sat motionless, with her eyes fixed on the rug before her, thinking, no doubt, of the repentance and salvation of the fiddler, and what hope there might yet be for her own lost son. The next day being Saturday, Robert set out for Bodyfauld, taking the violin with him. He went alone, for he was in no mood for Shargar's company.
So the next morning the boys parted Shargar to school, and Robert to Bodyfauld Shargar left behind with his desolation, his sun gone down in a west that was not even stormy, only gray and hopeless, and Robert moving towards an east which reflected, like a faint prophecy, the west behind him tinged with love, death, and music, but mingled the colours with its own saffron of coming dawn.
Betty was so dumfoundered with their impudence that she could not say a word. She did make haste with the dinner, though, and revealed her indignation only in her manner of putting the things on the table. As the boys left her, Robert contented himself with the single hint: 'Betty, Bodyfauld 's i' the perris o' Kettledrum. Min' ye that. Betty glowered and said nothing.
I know but one writer whose pen would have been able worthily to set forth the delights of the first few days at Bodyfauld Jean Paul. Nor would he have disdained to make the gladness of a country school-boy the theme of that pen. Indeed, often has he done so.
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