CHAPTER IV
THE COMPACT
'Neil!' said Reggie; 'it's impossible.'
Marjorie had become deadly white, and Allan pushed the hair back fromhis forehead and stood staring, his hands in his pockets. Reggiepranced backwards and forwards, in uncontrollable excitement, whileTricksy's dark eyes were growing as large as saucers in her little face.
'Elspeth,' said Marjorie sharply; 'you're talking nonsense, it can't betrue.'
'Indeed, Miss Marjorie, it's the truth I will be telling you; thepolice came and arrested him before his mother's eyes that very dayjust after he had been out with you on the boat, and he's before theSheriff in Stornwell this very day!'
'But, Elspeth, he did not do it! Nobody could believe that old Neilwould do such a thing!'
'Indeed, Master Allan, there are those that do, although Neil, poorladdie, would no more do such a thing than the laird himsel, or theking upon his throne! Appearances are against him, poor lad; and it'sfor appearances that they've arrested him.'
'What appearances, Elspeth? Tell us about it?'
'Well, Miss Marjorie, it's just this; one of the money orders that wasstolen was sent back from Edinburgh Post Office; and it was Neil whohad sent it away in a letter. It's from that they make out that it wasNeil who stole it.'
'Neil couldn't have done such a thing,' broke in Reggie, with signs ofa storm in his voice.
'Does Mother know? and Father?' asked Tricksy breathlessly.
'Indeed, Miss Tricksy, the laird's away at the trial, and Mrs. Stewarttoo, to be with Mrs. Macdonnell, poor soul; and Dr. and Mrs. MacGregorwent away this afternoon. The whole island's away, except just thosewhose work obliges them to stay; and it's a sore disgrace to arespectable family, whateffer.'
'That's all right then, if father's there,' said Reggie confidently.'He knows Neil far too well to believe such a thing of him, no matterwhat may have happened.'
'The laird can't help him much if the case goes against him, MasterReggie. It's an awful thing that the money order should have come outof the poor lad's letter; and it looks very bad.'
'But Neil couldn't have taken it,' protested Reggie; 'no matter wherethe order came from, it wasn't Neil who stole it.'
'Well, anyhow,' said Tricksy, 'I'll never speak to the Sheriff again,no matter what he does, if he lets Neil be put in prison.'
'The Sheriff only has to do his duty, Miss Tricksy; and if things goagainst poor Neil he can't help him.'
'Well, we'll stand up for him, no matter who doesn't,' declared Allan;'and we'll write and tell him so.'
'Of course we shall,' joined in the others.
'It's very kind of you, I'm sure,' said Elspeth, wiping her eyes; 'wemust just hope for the best. And now, young ladies and gentlemen, youmust have your tea and not think too much about it; and Miss Marjorie,I'm thinking I must just make you a few scones!'
Little appetite was left to the young folks for the meal; and thehalf-hearted clatter of knives and plates soon died away.
'We'll stand up for old Neil, no matter what happens,' was the upshotof their deliberations; and Elspeth, coming in and out, dried her tearsfurtively with the corner of her apron.
Later in the evening a dog-cart drove up; and Dr. and Mrs. MacGregoralighted.
Marjorie ran down into the hall, while the others all clustered aboutthe banisters and looked down.
'Mother,' said Marjorie, with a set face, 'we know about Neil; tell ushow things have gone for him to-day.'
'The case is against him, so far,' replied Mrs. MacGregor.
A groan burst from upstairs, and Marjorie set her lips tightly.
'What will be done to him?' inquired Tricksy piteously.
'Nothing yet, dear; the case is not finished. He has to go toEdinburgh to be tried; and we hope that something else may be found outbefore that time.'
'Shall we see him before he goes?'
'No, he will not come back before then.'
'Where is he?' demanded Allan.
'At present he is in the--in the County Jail,' faltered Mrs. MacGregor.
'Poor Neil,' burst from the children.
'He will be kindly treated,' interposed the doctor; 'and it is onlyuntil the case comes up in Edinburgh.'
The tears rolled over Tricksy's cheeks; and Marjorie turned away andlooked out of the window.
'And now,' said the doctor cheerily, 'you must not take the mattertragically yet. We must hope for the best. Neil must stand his triallike a man, and it isn't often that a miscarriage of justice takesplace. He will have the very best advice, your father and I will seeto that; and you may depend upon it that some fresh evidence will turnup before then, which will show matters in an altogether differentlight. In the meanwhile you must not go about looking doleful, asthough you had made up your minds already that Neil would not be ableto show a good case for himself.'
It was hard to be cheerful; and the young folk clustered about inmelancholy groups until the dog-cart arrived, when the Stewartsunwillingly took their leave, with many promises on both sides tocommunicate whatever might come to light in the meanwhile.
'Now, Duncan,' said Allan, after the dog-cart had started; 'tell uswhat has happened?'
'Indeed, Master Allan; it iss ahl ferry unlucky indeed; and it issferry sorry I will be for puir Neil and for Mrs. Macdonnell. You willbe knowing the night before the robbery wass committed Neil will havebeen spending the evening with the MacAlisters. He wass expecting aletter; and it will be a stormy evening and the mail steamer will notbe coming in till ferry late so that the letters wass not sent awaythat night, but Neil wass allowed to look among them for his own.There wass a registered letter for the laird; and it come out in theevidence that Neil would see it, and that no one else but only Mr. andMrs. MacAlister and Neil himself could have peen knowing that it wassthere.'
'But what could make them think that Neil would break into thepost-office and steal a letter? Neil, of all people!'
'Well then, the ferry next day Neil will pe sending away a letter, andin that letter wass one of the ferry orders that had been in thelaird's letter.'
'But how do they know that it was the same order; and how can they becertain that it was Neil who sent it away. There must have been agreat many orders presented in the Edinburgh Post Office that day.'
'They know that it wass the laird's order, Master Allan, because thegentleman who had sent away the orders had kept the number of them all;and they know that Neil had sent it away because the man he sent it totook it out of the envelope in ta post-office, and there wass a letterwith it signed clearly in his own handwriting; "Neil Macdonnell."'
Allan sat up and pushed his cap to the back of his head.
'It's very strange,' he said; 'there must be some mistake!'
'How did poor old Neil take it, when he was arrested and all that?'asked Reggie.
'Neil wass ferry much astonished, Master Reggie, and could not pelieveit at ahl. He said the order he had sent away wass not the laird's butanother one ahltogether. Afterwards he wass ferry angry; and in courthe stood up as prave as a lion and said he had neffer seen the orderand that he had neffer sent it away whateffer, and that it wass alllies. They will be showing him his name written on the order; and hehad to own that it wass his handwriting, but he will not be knowing howit had come on the order. Then when some of the people didn't seem topelieve him, he wass ferry angry again, wass Neil; and when the Sheriffsaid he wass to go and pe tried at Edinburgh he went out of the courtin a terrible rage and a fury; and he said to us ahl that he would notgo to Edinburgh, because if ta people here who wass his friends didn'tpeliefe him, they would not pe peliefing him neither in Edinburgh wherethey wass ahl strangers to him, and that he would be finding some wayof escaping pefore he wass sent there and not be pringing disgrace uponan honest family. He will be saying a lot of foolish things, willNeil, puir lad.'
Mr. and Mrs. Stewart were in the hall when their children arrived.Tricksy flew into her mother's arms and burst into tears; Allan
turneda grave, concerned face towards his parents; and Reggie lookedinquiringly at his father without speaking.
'I see that you have been told about Neil,' said the laird in his kindvoice. 'We had been hoping that the matter might have been cleared upwithout delay, and that it would be unnecessary that you should beinformed of it. However, you need not despair; Neil is not the lad tohave committed a dishonest action, and I am convinced that we shallfind some evidence that will clear him.'
'And now,' said Mrs. Stewart, 'you must all go to bed, Allan as well asthe others. It is late, and Tricksy is quite exhausted. Sleep well;you don't know what news may come in the morning! Something may befound out by that time.'
'I am sure,' said Tricksy still tearfully to Reggie as he saidgood-night to her in her little bed; 'I don't know what I should do ifI hadn't a mother! It's great fun running about with you and theothers, and staying out-of-doors for whole days at a time; but when weget hurt or sorry, it's Mummie that we want!'
Little sleep came to the boys that night. Each turned and tosseduneasily upon his bed, trying not to disturb the other; falling intobroken dreams of being with Neil on the rocks in their own island, andawakening to a sense of the reality.
Early in the morning it became useless to keep up the pretence anylonger. They rose and dressed and went out-of-doors.
By the garden gate two shaggy ponies were standing; and the boys werenot at all surprised to see Marjorie and Hamish, who turned anxiousfaces towards them.
'Well,' said Marjorie, 'anything new?'
'Nothing since we saw you.'
'There hasn't been time, of course,' said Marjorie. 'We couldn't rest,so we came along to see you.'
'Let's go down to the shore,' said Allan. 'Can't talk here.'
A window was thrown open on the upper story of the house, and a littlevoice cried, 'Wait a minute, people! don't go away! I'm coming too.'
'Tricksy awake already!' said Marjorie; 'that child will make herselfill.'
In a few minutes a little figure emerged from the front door, andTricksy ran towards them.
'What are you going to do?' she said. 'Is there any news?'
'Nothing at all, Tricksy,' said Marjorie; 'we were only going down tothe shore to talk.'
The little girl slipped her hand confidingly into Allan's and walkedbeside him, trying to accommodate her steps to his long stride.
'Hullo, there's Euan Macdonnell,' said Allan. 'He was at the trialyesterday; let's ask him about it.'
The fine frank-faced young coastguard touched his cap to the girls andwaited to be spoken to.
'Euan,' said Allan abruptly; speaking in Gaelic, which was always mostconvenient for the islanders if a conversation was likely to be long;'we know about Neil. You were there; tell us about the trial.'
'Well, Mr. Allan, it was a very bad business, and we none of usexpected it to go as it did. Poor Neil was most frightfully cut upabout it, and no wonder, poor fellow. What he felt most was that someof the people were against him when he thought they would be quite sureto believe in his honesty, no matter what might have happened.'
'So they ought,' declared Allan. 'Any one who knows Neil in the leastwould know that whether he sent away that order or not, he would neverhave stolen it, and that there must have been a mistake.'
'Of course there must have been,' said Euan, 'and I'm glad to hear yousay so, Mr. Allan.'
'Suppose things were to go wrongly,' said Marjorie; 'I mean, supposingthat nothing is found out that will help to clear Neil when he comesbefore the Edinburgh court, what will he have to expect?'
Tricksy's eyes were growing wider, and the pink in Marjorie's cheeksbecame deeper.
'I am afraid the penalty for the poor lad would be two or three yearsin prison, Miss Marjorie. It's a serious crime, you know;house-breaking, and robbing his Majesty's mails. We can only hope itwon't come to that.'
The hearers all drew a long breath, like a gasp.
'Let's go down and sit on the rocks,' said Marjorie abruptly. 'Now,Euan, tell us how you think it happened.'
'Well,' said Euan, 'the only explanation is, that that order came intoNeil's possession without his knowing it.'
Allan nodded.
'You see, Miss Marjorie,' continued Euan, 'Neil made no secret ofhaving sent off a post-office order that day. He had got one on theevening before, when he was at the MacAlisters', and he put it in thepocket of his reefer jacket. You know that new churn he got for hismother? Well, he was paying for that by instalments and this was oneof the payments. The day after the robbery, he went into thepost-office, got the order, put it into an envelope containing a noteto say that he hoped to send the last instalment next week, and sent itaway. But the order that came out of the letter was not the one thathe bought at Mrs. MacAlister's that night; and the curious thing is,that he found the order that he believed he had sent away, still in hiscoat pocket when he went to look. At least that's the story he tells,poor lad.'
'Then,' said Allan, 'how do you account for the wrong order being inthe letter?'
Euan pondered a minute, and then said, 'Mr. Allan, there's only oneexplanation of it, so far as I can see. Some person must have beentrying to screen himself by throwing suspicion on to Neil. You saythat there was more than one order in the laird's letter?'
'Yes,' replied Allan, 'and they don't seem to have heard anything aboutthe others yet.'
'They will turn up some day, no doubt, and then the whole matter may becleared up; but in the meanwhile there's nothing to go by to help thepoor lad. Perhaps they may be traced before the case comes up inEdinburgh.
'Oh, I hope so,' cried the girls, 'and then they'll get their finger onthe real culprit?'
'The person who did it must have put the order into Neil's pocket,'said Allan. 'How could they have managed it and what would make themthink of Neil?'
'Well, Mr. Allan; you know how these country post-offices are kept.The letter-box is in the MacAlisters' kitchen, which is at the sametime their shop, and where every one goes in and out. The box is neverlocked; and after the letters are sorted they often lie on the tablefor hours, waiting until the postman comes to take them away. Any onewho was not honest could easily slip into the kitchen when Mrs.MacAlister's back was turned and do what they liked with the letters;but such a thing has never happened before. Now, whoever committed therobbery has seen that Neil was in the post-office that evening, turningover the letters; and he saw that Neil got a money order to send away.All this made him think that Neil was the one to fasten the guilt onto, so after breaking into the post-office that night he slipped intothe house, unknown to Neil or his mother, and put the order where Neilwas likely to take it for his own.'
Allan nodded approvingly when the coastguard paused in what was anunusually long effort for him.
There's something in that,' he said. 'But who would have done such athing?'
'There is one man on the island who might have done it, and that manhas had every opportunity.'
'Who is that?'
'Do you know a lad called Andrew MacPeters? He works for theMacAlisters sometimes.'
'I know him,' said Reggie, who had been listening but saying little.'A red-headed man with foxy eyes.'
'The same,' said Euan. 'He is always in and out of the house; and mostlikely he was there that night and saw everything that went on. He hasalways hated Neil since he was a lad, and got a beating from Neil, whowas much smaller than himself. He would only be too pleased to do himan ill turn. It shows a nasty, mean disposition that he should havetaken the trouble to break open the box and throw the letters all aboutthe shop when he only had to open it and take out what he wanted. Keepa look-out on that man, young ladies and gentlemen, if you want to findout what is at the bottom of the whole affair.'
'We will,' they all said.
'And if you could find out anything before the case comes up,' saidEuan, 'you might be the means of saving the lad and his mother too; forshe will be heart-broken if her son is not cleared,
and that quickly.'
'We'll do all we can,' said Marjorie.
'Yes,' said Allan slowly and deliberately; 'I vote we all make up ourminds not to rest until we find out who did it and get Neil cleared.'
'We will, we will,' cried all the others in a chorus.
'How are we going to manage it?' asked Tricksy, with eyes and mouthopen.
The others did not reply.
'We will make a compact,' cried Marjorie, rising with sparkling eyes,'and we'll all sign an agreement; something like this: "We herebypromise never to rest until we find out who committed the robbery andshow that Neil didn't do it."'
'Yes,' said Tricksy; 'let's write it at once.'
'No pens or paper here,' said Marjorie; 'we'll write it down when weget into the house. Euan, you must join the compact too; we'll sendyou a copy for yourself. Each of us shall have his or her own copy tocarry about wherever we go; and each copy shall be signed by everymember of the compact. We'll form ourselves into a Society to provethat Neil is innocent.'
'So we shall,' said Allan; 'good idea that of yours, Marjorie.'
'That's all right,' said the youngest member of the Society; 'now, whenare we going to begin?'
'You must give us time, Tricksy,' said Allan; 'it won't be so veryeasy;' but all the faces wore a more cheerful expression.
'There's a telegraph boy,' said Marjorie suddenly, 'do you seehim?--just going in at the gates of Ardnavoir. Perhaps it's some newsof Neil.'
'Run, Reggie,' said Allan, 'you are the best runner; and see whetherit's anything of that kind.'
Reggie started off, and after an interval he came speeding back again.
It's something to do with Neil,' he said; 'come quickly.'