Big Game - A Story for Girls
Page 47Now for the first time Margot stood directly in his path, and waited
with a thrill of curiosity and excitement to see whether he would echo
his brother's welcome. In this Highland glen the ordinary forms and
ceremonies of society were hopelessly out of place, and it seemed as if
perforce there must be an atmosphere of camaraderie between the few
visitors whom Fate had thrown together in the spirit of holiday-making.
Margot's prettiest smile and bow were in waiting to greet the faintest
flicker of animation on the grave, dark face, but it did not come. Mr
Elgood's deep-set eyes stared at her with an unseeing gaze--stared as it
were straight through her, without being conscious of her presence. She
might have been a chair, a table, a post of wood by the wayside, for all
the notice bestowed upon her by the man whose favour she had travelled
Another moment and he had left the shop, leaving Margot to draw out her
purse and pay for her purchases in a tingling of pique and
disappointment.
"That gentleman will be staying up at the Nag's Head with yourself,"
vouchsafed the spotted postmaster affably. "A fine gentleman--a ferry
fine gentleman! They say he will be a ferry great man up in London. I
suppose you will be hearing of his name?"
Margot's response was somewhat depressed in tone.
"Yes. She had heard of Mr Elgood... She would take four, not five,
postcards of the Nag's Head. No; there was nothing else she was
needing. The two penny packets of notepaper were certainly very cheap,
she did not require any to-day, thank you. Perhaps another time. Good
morning!"
Outside in the road Ronald was pacing up and down, twirling his stick,
and looking bright and animated. He came hurrying back to meet Margot,
hardly waiting to reach her side before breaking into speech.
"Well--well! You saw him? Did you notice the shape of his head? You
can see it all in his face--the force and the insight, the imagination.
The face of a scholar, and the body of a sportsman, A magnificent
combination! Did you notice his walk?"
"Oh, I noticed him well enough. I noticed all there was to see. I have
no complaints to make about his appearance."
"He never noticed me!"
Ron laughed; a loud boyish laugh of amusement!
"Poor old Margot! That was it, was it? An unforgivable offence. He
lives up in the clouds, my dear; compared with him, you and I are
miserable little earth-worms crawling about the ground. It will take
some time before he is even aware of our presence. We will have to make
friends with the brother, and trust by degrees to make him conscious of
our existence. It's worth waiting for!"