Catriona

Page 92

"I once thought I had a

friend, but it proved a disappointment."

She asked me who she was?

"It was a he, then," said I. "We were the two best lads at my

father's school, and we thought we loved each other dearly. Well,

the time came when he went to Glasgow to a merchant's house, that

was his second cousin once removed; and wrote me two-three times by

the carrier; and then he found new friends, and I might write till

I was tired, he took no notice. Eh, Catriona, it took me a long

while to forgive the world. There is not anything more bitter than

to lose a fancied friend."

Then she began to question me close upon his looks and character,

for we were each a great deal concerned in all that touched the

other; till at last, in a very evil hour, I minded of his letters

and went and fetched the bundle from the cabin.

"Here are his letters," said I, "and all the letters that ever I

got. That will be the last I'll can tell of myself; ye know the

lave {26} as well as I do."

"Will you let me read them, then?" says she.

I told her, IF SHE WOULD BE AT THE PAINS; and she bade me go away

and she would read them from the one end to the other. Now, in

this bundle that I gave her, there were packed together not only

all the letters of my false friend, but one or two of Mr.

Campbell's when he was in town at the Assembly, and to make a

complete roll of all that ever was written to me, Catriona's little

word, and the two I had received from Miss Grant, one when I was on

the Bass and one on board that ship. But of these last I had no

particular mind at the moment.

I was in that state of subjection to the thought of my friend that

it mattered not what I did, nor scarce whether I was in her

presence or out of it; I had caught her like some kind of a noble

fever that lived continually in my bosom, by night and by day, and

whether I was waking or asleep. So it befell that after I was come

into the fore-part of the ship where the broad bows splashed into

the billows, I was in no such hurry to return as you might fancy;

rather prolonged my absence like a variety in pleasure. I do not

think I am by nature much of an Epicurean: and there had come till

then so small a share of pleasure in my way that I might be excused

perhaps to dwell on it unduly.

When I returned to her again, I had a faint, painful impression as

of a buckle slipped, so coldly she returned the packet.

"You have read them?" said I; and I thought my voice sounded not

wholly natural, for I was turning in my mind for what could ail

her.

"Did you mean me to read all?" she asked.

I told her "Yes," with a drooping voice.

"The last of them as well?" said she.

I knew where we were now; yet I would not lie to her either. "I

gave them all without afterthought," I said, "as I supposed that

you would read them. I see no harm in any."

"I will be differently made," said she. "I thank God I am

differently made. It was not a fit letter to be shown me. It was

not fit to be written."

"I think you are speaking of your own friend, Barbara Grant?" said

I.

"There will not be anything as bitter as to lose a fancied friend,"

said she, quoting my own expression.

"I think it is sometimes the friendship that was fancied!" I cried.

"What kind of justice do you call this, to blame me for some words

that a tomfool of a madcap lass has written down upon a piece of

paper? You know yourself with what respect I have behaved--and

would do always."

"Yet you would show me that same letter!" says she. "I want no

such friends. I can be doing very well, Mr. Balfour, without her--

or you."

"This is your fine gratitude!" says I.

"I am very much obliged to you," said she. "I will be asking you

to take away your--letters." She seemed to choke upon the word, so

that it sounded like an oath.

"You shall never ask twice," said I; picked up that bundle, walked

a little way forward and cast them as far as possible into the sea.

Robert Louis Stevenson
Classic Literature Library

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