The Mystery of Cloomber | Page 6

not unkindly expression.
"How are you, Mr. Fothergill West?" he cried. "I must apologise to you
if I was a little brusque the other night--you will excuse an old soldier
who has spent the best part of his life in harness--All the same, you
must confess that you are rather dark-skinned for a Scotchman."
"We have a Spanish strain in our blood," said I, wondering at his
recurrence to the topic.
"That would, of course, account for it," he remarked. "My dear," to his
wife, "allow me to introduce Mr. Fothergill West to you. This is my son
and my daughter. We have come here in search of rest, Mr. West
--complete rest."
"And you could not possibly have come to a better place," said I.
"Oh, you think so?" he answered. "I suppose it is very quiet indeed, and
very lonely. You might walk through these country lanes at night, I
dare say, and never meet a soul, eh?"
"Well, there are not many about after dark," I said.

"And you are not much troubled with vagrants or wandering beggars,
eh? Not many tinkers or tramps or rascally gipsies--no vermin of that
sort about?"
"I find it rather cold," said Mrs. Heatherstone, drawing her thick
sealskin mantle tighter round her figure. "We are detaining Mr. West,
too."
"So we are, my dear, so we are. Drive on, coachman. Good-day, Mr.
West."
The carriage rattled away towards the Hall, and I trotted thoughtfully
onwards to the little country metropolis.
As I passed up the High Street, Mr. McNeil ran out from his office and
beckoned to me to stop.
"Our new tenants have gone out," he said. "They drove over this
morning."
"I met them on the way," I answered.
As I looked down at the little factor, I could see that his face was
flushed and that he bore every appearance of having had an extra glass.
"Give me a real gentleman to do business with," he said, with a burst of
laughter. "They understand me and I understand them. 'What shall I fill
it up for?' says the general, taking a blank cheque out o' his pouch and
laying it on the table. 'Two hundred,' says I, leaving a bit o' a margin
for my own time and trouble."
"I thought that the landlord had paid you for that," I remarked.
"Aye, aye, but it's well to have a bit margin. He filled it up and threw it
over to me as if it had been an auld postage stamp. That's the way
business should be done between honest men--though it wouldna do if
one was inclined to take an advantage. Will ye not come in, Mr. West,
and have a taste of my whisky?"

"No, thank you" said I, "I have business to do."
"Well, well, business is the chief thing. It's well not to drink in the
morning, too. For my own part, except a drop before breakfast to give
me an appetite, and maybe a glass, or even twa, afterwards to promote
digestion, I never touch spirits before noon. What d'ye think o' the
general, Mr. West?"
"Why, I have hardly had an opportunity of judging," I answered.
Mr. McNeil tapped his forehead with his forefinger.
"That's what I think of him," he said in a confidential whisper, shaking
his head at me. "He's gone, sir, gone, in my estimation. Now what
would you take to be a proof of madness, Mr. West?"
"Why, offering a blank cheque to a Wigtown house-agent," said I.
"Ah, you're aye at your jokes. But between oorsel's now, if a man asked
ye how many miles it was frae a seaport, and whether ships come there
from the East, and whether there were tramps on the road, and whether
it was against the lease for him to build a high wall round the grounds,
what would ye make of it, eh?"
"I should certainly think him eccentric," said I.
"If every man had his due, our friend would find himsel' in a house
with a high wall round the grounds, and that without costing him a
farthing," said the agent.
"Where then?" I asked, humouring his joke.
"Why, in the Wigtown County Lunatic Asylum," cried the little man,
with a bubble of laughter, in the midst of which I rode on my way,
leaving him still chuckling over his own facetiousness.
The arrival of the new family at Cloomber Hall had no perceptible
effect in relieving the monotony of our secluded district, for instead of
entering into such simple pleasures as the country had to offer, or

interesting themselves, as we had hoped, in our attempts to improve the
lot of our poor crofters and fisherfolk, they seemed to shun all
observation, and hardly ever to venture beyond the avenue gates.
We