Читать книгу Sir Isumbras at the Ford - D. K. Broster - Страница 20

Elspeth was very glum as she put the little boy to bed in the delightful room where there was no place for her.

"At ony rate," she remarked, when the operation was concluded, "A'll no leave ye till A please, and gif ane of these madams comes A'll e'en gar her turn me oot."

"They are very kind ladies," said Anne-Hilarion, who was excited. "I think Mme. de Chaulnes is a beautiful old lady like a fée marraine—yes, like the Queen of Elfland. Elspeth, say the 'Queen of Elfland'!" he added coaxingly.

And, much more because she thought it would enable her to stay longer in her charge's room than to please him, Elspeth embarked on the tale of 'True Thomas,' which she had proffered in vain in London a few nights ago. Her favourite passage was rendered with even more emphasis than usual:

"'O see ye not yon narrow road,

So thick beset wi' thorns and briers?

That is the Path of Righteousness,

Though after it but few enquires.

'And see ye not yon braid braid road,

That lies across the lily leven?

That is the Path of Wickedness,

Though some call it the Road to Heaven.

'And see ye not yon bonny road,

That winds about the fernie brae?

That is the road to fair Elfland,

Where thou and I this night maun gae.'"

"This is Elfland, then," put in Anne-Hilarion contentedly.

"'But, Thomas, ye sall haud yer tongue

Whatever ye may hear or see;

For speak ye word in Elflyn-land,

Ye'l ne'er win back to your ain countrie.'"

She paused a second. "Go on!" commanded Anne-Hilarion.

"'Syne they came to a garden green,

And she pu'd an apple——'"

"You have missed some out!" exclaimed the listener. "Do not miss any, Elspeth! Say about the rivers abune the knee and all the blood that's shed on the earth——"

"Fie, Maister Anne!" said Mrs. Saunders reprovingly. "Yon verses are no' fittin' for a bairn, and A did wrang ever tae tell them tae ye." However, to get them over as quickly as possible, she went back and repeated them.

"'O they rade on and farther on,

And they waded rivers abune the knee;

And they saw neither sun nor moon,

But they heard the roaring of the sea.'"

"I like that!" murmured the Comte de Flavigny, with a shudder.

"'It was mirk, mirk night, there was nae starlight,

They waded through red blude to the knee;

For a' the blude that's shed on the earth

Rins through the springs o' that countrie.'"

"But what does that mean?" asked the child, captured by a delicious horror. "How could——"

"It's a' silly havers, child—it's poetry, and nae sense in it," replied Elspeth crossly. "Noo harken aboot the apple.

'Syne they came to a garden green——'"

But at the second attempt to pluck the apple the door opened and Mlle. Angèle came in.

"My sister desires that you will go now," she said to Elspeth. "Mrs. Barnes is waiting to take you to her house. We shall expect you to-morrow morning at seven o'clock."

Though she had a pleasant smile on her face there was no resisting the quiet authority of her tone. Mrs. Saunders rose with much reluctance, bent over her charge and gave him a kiss—by no means the ritual of every night—and with a very high head left the room. Mlle. de Chaulnes came over to the bed.

"Are you comfortable, little one?" she asked kindly. "You will not be frightened? My sister sleeps next door, and if you want anything, you have only to call her."

"Yes, thank you, Madame," said Anne-Hilarion a little shyly, and she too kissed him and went away.