"All right," said Drummond joyfully. "This is a red-letter day--and no mistake. Shows that a fellow never knows when his next bit of good luck is going to turn up."
He looked so young and boyish at the moment that Isla suddenly smiled upon him.
"What a boy you are, Neil! I don’t believe anything will ever make you grow up. Even being Laird of Garrion hasn’t had the smallest effect. Here’s the train. Now I warn you I won’t speak to you on the journey, because I have heaps and heaps of things to arrange in my mind. Remember, I’m going to a lawyer’s office, and nobody goes there unprepared."
"All right. So long as I am sitting next to you, and preventing anybody else from speaking to you, I shan’t grumble," said Neil calmly as he helped her into a corner of the third-class carriage.
He had a first-class ticket himself, which he carefully hid from her. Had he dared he would have paid the difference for the privilege of having a compartment to themselves, but Isla would not have permitted that.
Shortly after eleven o’clock they arrived at Glasgow and, saying that it was necessary for him to have a cab to take him to his destination at the south-side, he put Isla in and drove her the short distance to the lawyer’s door. Then with the prospect of meeting her at lunch in little more than an hour’s time, he departed in the seventh heaven of delight.
Miss Mackinnon, sending in her name, was not kept waiting an unnecessary moment. Indeed, so much was she respected in the office that Cattanach turned over a rather important client to his junior partner and at once went to see Miss Mackinnon, escorting her to his private room.
"I came in consequence of your letter to papa yesterday, Mr. Cattanach," said Isla as they shook hands. "It was of such importance that I thought I would come and have a talk with you about it."
Cattanach was not an old man, and he bore his fifty years lightly. He had a somewhat heavy yet keen face, was a little stern in repose. But, when his genial smile irradiated his face, the sternness was forgotten. His reputation in the city was that of being one of the first lawyers of the day, and business simply flowed in upon his firm.
His father had been at the helm of Achree affairs when they were in a more prosperous state, and he had been a life-long friend and admirer of the General. He had managed to communicate his sincere and sympathetic interest to his son, who had done much more for the Mackinnons than they could have had the right to expect from their man of business or than could ever be repaid. He had indeed helped young Mackinnon out of several scrapes for his father’s and his sister’s sake, though doing that had been a service very ill to his liking. An interview with Isla herself, however, was a pure pleasure, which, on this occasion, was all the keener that it was wholly unexpected.