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diff --git a/14961.txt b/14961.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a46b29a --- /dev/null +++ b/14961.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12934 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Sentimental Tommy, by J. M. Barrie + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Sentimental Tommy + The Story of His Boyhood + +Author: J. M. Barrie + +Release Date: February 7, 2005 [EBook #14961] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SENTIMENTAL TOMMY *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + + + SENTIMENTAL TOMMY + + THE STORY OF HIS BOYHOOD + + BY J. M. BARRIE + + AUTHOR OF "THE LITTLE MINISTER," "A WINDOW IN THRUMS," ETC. + + 1896 + + + + +SENTIMENTAL TOMMY + +THE STORY OF HIS BOYHOOD + + + + +CHAPTER I + +TOMMY CONTRIVES TO KEEP ONE OUT + + +The celebrated Tommy first comes into view on a dirty London stair, and +he was in sexless garments, which were all he had, and he was five, and +so though we are looking at him, we must do it sideways, lest he sit +down hurriedly to hide them. That inscrutable face, which made the +clubmen of his later days uneasy and even puzzled the ladies while he +was making love to them, was already his, except when he smiled at one +of his pretty thoughts or stopped at an open door to sniff a potful. On +his way up and down the stair he often paused to sniff, but he never +asked for anything; his mother had warned him against it, and he carried +out her injunction with almost unnecessary spirit, declining offers +before they were made, as when passing a room, whence came the smell of +fried fish, he might call in, "I don't not want none of your fish," or +"My mother says I don't not want the littlest bit," or wistfully, "I +ain't hungry," or more wistfully still, "My mother says I ain't +hungry." His mother heard of this and was angry, crying that he had let +the neighbors know something she was anxious to conceal, but what he had +revealed to them Tommy could not make out, and when he questioned her +artlessly, she took him with sudden passion to her flat breast, and +often after that she looked at him long and woefully and wrung her +hands. + +The only other pleasant smell known to Tommy was when the water-carts +passed the mouth of his little street. His street, which ended in a dead +wall, was near the river, but on the doleful south side of it, opening +off a longer street where the cabs of Waterloo station sometimes found +themselves when they took the wrong turning; his home was at the top of +a house of four floors, each with accommodation for at least two +families, and here he had lived with his mother since his father's +death six months ago. There was oil-cloth on the stair as far as the +second floor; there had been oil-cloth between the second floor and the +third--Tommy could point out pieces of it still adhering to the wood like +remnants of a plaster. + +This stair was nursery to all the children whose homes opened on it, not +so safe as nurseries in the part of London that is chiefly inhabited by +boys in sailor suits, but preferable as a centre of adventure, and here +on an afternoon sat two. They were very busy boasting, but only the +smaller had imagination, and as he used it recklessly, their positions +soon changed; sexless garments was now prone on a step, breeches sitting +on him. + +Shovel, a man of seven, had said, "None on your lip. You weren't never +at Thrums yourself." + +Tommy's reply was, "Ain't my mother a Thrums woman?" + +Shovel, who had but one eye, and that bloodshot, fixed it on him +threateningly. + +"The Thames is in London," he said. + +"'Cos they wouldn't not have it in Thrums," replied Tommy. + +"'Amstead 'Eath's in London, I tell yer," Shovel said. + +"The cemetery is in Thrums," said Tommy. + +"There ain't no queens in Thrums, anyhow." + +"There's the auld licht minister." + +"Well, then, if you jest seed Trafalgar Square!" + +"If you jest seed the Thrums town-house!" + +"St. Paul's ain't in Thrums." + +"It would like to be." + +After reflecting, Shovel said in desperation, "Well, then, my father +were once at a hanging." + +Tommy replied instantly, "It were my father what was hanged." + +There was no possible answer to this save a knock-down blow, but though +Tommy was vanquished in body, his spirit remained stanch; he raised his +head and gasped, "You should see how they knock down in Thrums!" It was +then that Shovel sat on him. + +Such was their position when an odd figure in that house, a gentleman, +passed them without a word, so desirous was he to make a breath taken at +the foot of the close stair last him to the top. Tommy merely gaped +after this fine sight, but Shovel had experience, and "It's a kid or a +coffin." he said sharply, knowing that only birth or death brought a +doctor here. + +Watching the doctor's ascent, the two boys strained their necks over the +rickety banisters, which had been polished black by trousers of the +past, and sometimes they lost him, and then they saw his legs again. + +"Hello, it's your old woman!" cried Shovel. "Is she a deader?" he asked, +brightening, for funerals made a pleasant stir on the stair. + +The question had no meaning for bewildered Tommy, but he saw that if his +mother was a deader, whatever that might be, he had grown great in his +companion's eye. So he hoped she was a deader. + +"If it's only a kid," Shovel began, with such scorn that Tommy at once +screamed, "It ain't!" and, cross-examined, he swore eagerly that his +mother was in bed when he left her in the morning, that she was still in +bed at dinner-time, also that the sheet was over her face, also that she +was cold. + +Then she was a deader and had attained distinction in the only way +possible in that street. Shovel did not shake Tommy's hand warmly, the +forms of congratulation varying in different parts of London, but he +looked his admiration so plainly that Tommy's head waggled proudly. +Evidently, whatever his mother had done redounded to his glory as well +as to hers, and somehow he had become a boy of mark. He said from his +elevation that he hoped Shovel would believe his tales about Thrums now, +and Shovel, who had often cuffed Tommy for sticking to him so closely, +cringed in the most snobbish manner, craving permission to be seen in +his company for the next three days. Tommy, the upstart, did not see his +way to grant this favor for nothing, and Shovel offered a knife, but did +not have it with him; it was his sister Ameliar's knife, and he would +take it from her, help his davy. Tommy would wait there till Shovel +fetched it. Shovel, baffled, wanted to know what Tommy was putting on +hairs for. Tommy smiled, and asked whose mother was a deader. Then +Shovel collapsed, and his wind passed into Tommy. + +The reign of Thomas Sandys, nevertheless, was among the shortest, for +with this question was he overthrown: "How did yer know she were cold?" + +"Because," replied Tommy, triumphantly, "she tell me herself." + +Shovel only looked at him, but one eye can be so much more terrible than +two, that plop, plop, plop came the balloon softly down the steps of the +throne and at the foot shrank pitifully, as if with Ameliar's knife in +it. + +"It's only a kid arter all!" screamed Shovel, furiously. Disappointment +gave him eloquence, and Tommy cowered under his sneers, not +understanding them, but they seemed to amount to this, that in +having a baby he had disgraced the house. + +"But I think," he said, with diffidence, "I think I were once one." + +Then all Shovel could say was that he had better keep it dark on that +stair. + +Tommy squeezed his fist into one eye, and the tears came out at the +other. A good-natured impulse was about to make Shovel say that though +kids are undoubtedly humiliations, mothers and boys get used to them in +time, and go on as brazenly as before, but it was checked by Tommy's +unfortunate question, "Shovel, when will it come?" + +Shovel, speaking from local experience, replied truthfully that they +usually came very soon after the doctor, and at times before him. + +"It ain't come before him," Tommy said, confidently. + +"How do yer know?" + +"'Cos it weren't there at dinner-time, and I been here since +dinner-time." + +The words meant that Tommy thought it could only enter by way of the +stair, and Shovel quivered with delight. "H'st!" he cried, dramatically, +and to his joy Tommy looked anxiously down the stair, instead of up it. + +"Did you hear it?" Tommy whispered. + +Before he could control himself Shovel blurted out: "Do you think as +they come on their feet?" + +"How then?" demanded Tommy; but Shovel had exhausted his knowledge of +the subject. Tommy, who had begun to descend to hold the door, turned +and climbed upwards, and his tears were now but the drop left in a cup +too hurriedly dried. Where was he off to? Shovel called after him; and +he answered, in a determined whisper: "To shove of it out if it tries to +come in at the winder." + +This was enough for the more knowing urchin, now so full of good things +that with another added he must spill, and away he ran for an audience, +which could also help him to bait Tommy, that being a game most sportive +when there are several to fling at once. At the door he knocked over, +and was done with, a laughing little girl who had strayed from a more +fashionable street. She rose solemnly, and kissing her muff, to reassure +it if it had got a fright, toddled in at the first open door to be out +of the way of unmannerly boys. + +Tommy, climbing courageously, heard the door slam, and looking down he +saw--a strange child. He climbed no higher. It had come. + +After a long time he was one flight of stairs nearer it. It was making +itself at home on the bottom step; resting, doubtless, before it came +hopping up. Another dozen steps, and--It was beautifully dressed in one +piece of yellow and brown that reached almost to its feet, with a bit +left at the top to form a hood, out of which its pert face peeped +impudently; oho, so they came in their Sunday clothes. He drew so near +that he could hear it cooing: thought itself as good as upstairs, did +it! + +He bounced upon her sharply, thinking to carry all with a high hand. +"Out you go!" he cried, with the action of one heaving coals. + +She whisked round, and, "Oo boy or oo girl?" she inquired, puzzled by +his dress. + +"None of your cheek!" roared insulted manhood. + +"Oo boy," she said, decisively. + +With the effrontery of them when they are young, she made room for him +on her step, but he declined the invitation, knowing that her design was +to skip up the stair the moment he was off his guard. + +"You don't needn't think as we'll have you," he announced, firmly. "You +had best go away to--go to--" His imagination failed him. "You had best +go back," he said. + +She did not budge, however, and his next attempt was craftier. "My +mother," he assured her, "ain't living here now;" but mother was a new +word to the girl, and she asked gleefully, "Oo have mother?" expecting +him to produce it from his pocket. To coax him to give her a sight of it +she said, plaintively, "Me no have mother." + +"You won't not get mine," replied Tommy doggedly. + +She pretended not to understand what was troubling him, and it passed +through his head that she had to wait there till the doctor came down +for her. He might come at any moment. + +A boy does not put his hand into his pocket until every other means of +gaining his end has failed, but to that extremity had Tommy now come. +For months his only splendid possession had been a penny despised by +trade because of a large round hole in it, as if (to quote Shovel) some +previous owner had cut a farthing out of it. To tell the escapades of +this penny (there are no adventurers like coin of the realm) would be +one way of exhibiting Tommy to the curious, but it would be a +hard-hearted way. At present the penny was doubly dear to him, having +been long lost and lately found. In a noble moment he had dropped it +into a charity box hanging forlorn against the wall of a shop, where it +lay very lonely by itself, so that when Tommy was that way he could hear +it respond if he shook the box, as acquaintances give each other the +time of day in passing. Thus at comparatively small outlay did he spread +his benevolence over weeks and feel a glow therefrom, until the glow +went, when he and Shovel recaptured the penny with a thread and a bent +pin. + +This treasure he sadly presented to the girl, and she accepted it with +glee, putting it on her finger, as if it were a ring, but instead of +saying that she would go now she asked him, coolly, + +"Oo know tories?" + +"Stories!" he exclaimed, "I'll--I'll tell you about Thrums," and was +about to do it for love, but stopped in time. "This ain't a good stair +for stories," he said, cunningly. "I can't not tell stories on this +stair, but I--I know a good stair for stories." + +The ninny of a girl was completely hoodwinked; and see, there they go, +each with a hand in the muff, the one leering, oh, so triumphantly; the +other trusting and gleeful. There was an exuberance of vitality about +her as if she lived too quickly in her gladness, which you may remember +in some child who visited the earth for but a little while. + +How superbly Tommy had done it! It had been another keen brain pitted +against his, and at first he was not winning. Then up came Thrums, +and--But the thing has happened before; in a word, Bluecher. Nevertheless, +Tommy just managed it, for he got the girl out of the street and on to +another stair no more than in time to escape a ragged rabble, headed by +Shovel, who, finding their quarry gone, turned on their leader +viciously, and had gloomy views of life till his cap was kicked down a +sewer, which made the world bright again. + +Of the tales told by Tommy that day in words Scotch and cockney, of +Thrums, home of heroes and the arts, where the lamps are lit by a +magician called Leerie-leerie-licht-the-lamps (but he is also friendly, +and you can fling stones at him), and the merest children are allowed +to set the spinning-wheels a-whirling, and dagont is the swear, and the +stairs are so fine that the houses wear them outside for show, and you +drop a pail at the end of a rope down a hole, and sometimes it comes up +full of water, and sometimes full of fairies--of these and other +wonders, if you would know, ask not a dull historian, nor even go to +Thrums, but to those rather who have been boys and girls there and now +are exiles. Such a one Tommy knows, an unhappy woman, foolish, not very +lovable, flung like a stone out of the red quarry upon a land where it +cannot grip, and tearing her heart for a sight of the home she shall see +no more. From her Tommy had his pictures, and he colored them rarely. + +Never before had he such a listener. "Oh, dagont, dagont!" he would cry +in ecstasy over these fair scenes, and she, awed or gurgling with mirth +according to the nature of the last, demanded "'Nother, 'nother!" +whereat he remembered who and what she was, and showing her a morsel of +the new one, drew her to more distant parts, until they were so far from +his street that he thought she would never be able to find the way back. + +His intention had been, on reaching such a spot, to desert her promptly, +but she gave him her hand in the muff so confidingly that against his +judgment he fell a-pitying the trustful mite who was wandering the +world in search of a mother, and so easily diddled on the whole that +the chances were against her finding one before morning. Almost +unconsciously he began to look about him for a suitable one. + +They were now in a street much nearer to his own home than the spurts +from spot to spot had led him to suppose. It was new to him, but he +recognized it as the acme of fashion by those two sure signs; railings +with most of their spikes in place, and cards scored with, the word +"Apartments." He had discovered such streets as this before when in +Shovel's company, and they had watched the toffs go out and in, and it +was a lordly sight, for first the toff waggled a rail that was loose at +the top and then a girl, called the servant, peeped at him from below, +and then he pulled the rail again, and then the door opened from the +inside, and you had a glimpse of wonder-land with a place for hanging +hats on. He had not contemplated doing anything so handsome for the girl +as this, but why should he not establish her here? There were many +possible mothers in view, and thrilling with a sense of his generosity +he had almost fixed on one but mistrusted the glint in her eye and on +another when she saved herself by tripping and showing an undarned heel. + +He was still of an open mind when the girl of a sudden cried, gleefully, +"Ma-ma, ma-ma!" and pointed, with her muff, across the street. The word +was as meaningless to Tommy as mother had been to her, but he saw that +she was drawing his attention to a woman some thirty yards away. + +"Man--man!" he echoed, chiding her ignorance; "no, no, you blether, that +ain't a man, that's a woman; that's woman--woman." + +"Ooman--ooman," the girl repeated, docilely, but when she looked again, +"Ma-ma, ma-ma," she insisted, and this was Tommy's first lesson that +however young you catch them they will never listen to reason. + +She seemed of a mind to trip off to this woman, and as long as his own +mother was safe, it did not greatly matter to Tommy whom she chose, but +if it was this one, she was going the wrong way about it. You cannot +snap them up in the street. + +The proper course was to track her to her house, which he proceeded to +do, and his quarry, who was looking about her anxiously, as if she had +lost something, gave him but a short chase. In the next street to the +one in which they had first seen her, a street so like it that Tommy +might have admired her for knowing the difference, she opened the door +with a key and entered, shutting the door behind her. Odd to tell, the +child had pointed to this door as the one she would stop at, which +surprised Tommy very much. + +On the steps he gave her his final instructions, and she dimpled and +gurgled, obviously full of admiration for him, which was a thing he +approved of, but he would have liked to see her a little more serious. + +"That is the door. Well, then, I'll waggle the rail as makes the bell +ring, and then I'll run." + +That was all, and he wished she had not giggled most of the time. She +was sniggering, as if she thought him a very funny boy, even when he +rang the bell and bolted. + +From a safe place he watched the opening of the door, and saw the +frivolous thing lose a valuable second in waving the muff to him. "In +you go!" he screamed beneath his breath. Then she entered and the door +closed. He waited an hour, or two minutes, or thereabout, and she had +not been ejected. Triumph! + +With a drum beating inside him Tommy strutted home, where, alas, a boy +was waiting to put his foot through it. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +BUT THE OTHER GETS IN + + +To Tommy, a swaggerer, came Shovel sour-visaged; having now no cap of +his own, he exchanged with Tommy, would also have bled the blooming +mouth of him, but knew of a revenge that saves the knuckles: announced, +with jeers and offensive finger exercise, that "it" had come. + +Shovel was a liar. If he only knowed what Tommy knowed! + +If Tommy only heard what Shovel had heard! + +Tommy was of opinion that Shovel hadn't not heard anything. + +Shovel believed as Tommy didn't know nuthin. + +Tommy wouldn't listen to what Shovel had heard. + +Neither would Shovel listen to what Tommy knew. + +If Shovel would tell what he had heard, Tommy would tell what he knew. + +Well, then, Shovel had listened at the door, and heard it mewling. + +Tommy knowed it well, and it never mewled. + +How could Tommy know it? + +'Cos he had been with it a long time. + +Gosh! Why, it had only comed a minute ago. + +This made Tommy uneasy, and he asked a leading question cunningly. A +boy, wasn't it? + +No, Shovel's old woman had been up helping to hold it, and she said it +were a girl. + +Shutting his mouth tightly; which was never natural to him, the startled +Tommy mounted the stair, listened and was convinced. He did not enter +his dishonored home. He had no intention of ever entering it again. With +one salt tear he renounced--a child, a mother. + +On his way downstairs he was received by Shovel and party, who planted +their arrows neatly. Kids cried steadily, he was told, for the first +year. A boy one was bad enough, but a girl one was oh lawks. He must +never again expect to get playing with blokes like what they was. +Already she had got round his old gal who would care for him no more. +What would they say about this in Thrums? + +Shovel even insisted on returning him his cap, and for some queer +reason, this cut deepest. Tommy about to charge, with his head down, now +walked away so quietly that Shovel, who could not help liking the funny +little cuss, felt a twinge of remorse, and nearly followed him with a +magnanimous offer: to treat him as if he were still respectable. + +Tommy lay down on a distant stair, one of the very stairs where _she_ +had sat with him. Ladies, don't you dare to pity him now, for he won't +stand it. Rage was what he felt, and a man in a rage (as you may know if +you are married) is only to be soothed by the sight of all womankind in +terror of him. But you may look upon your handiwork, and gloat, an you +will, on the wreck you have made. A young gentleman trusted one of you; +behold the result. O! O! O! O! now do you understand why we men cannot +abide you? + +If she had told him flat that his mother, and his alone, she would have, +and so there was an end of it. Ah, catch them taking a straight road. +But to put on those airs of helplessness, to wave him that gay good-by, +and then the moment his back was turned, to be off through the air +on--perhaps on her muff, to the home he had thought to lure her from. In +a word, to be diddled by a girl when one flatters himself he is +diddling! S'death, a dashing fellow finds it hard to bear. Nevertheless, +he has to bear it, for oh, Tommy, Tommy, 'tis the common lot of man. + +His hand sought his pocket for the penny that had brought him comfort in +dark hours before now; but, alack, she had deprived him even of it. +Never again should his pinkie finger go through that warm hole, and at +the thought a sense of his forlornness choked him and he cried. You may +pity him a little now. + +Darkness came and hid him even from himself. He is not found again until +a time of the night that is not marked on ornamental clocks, but has an +hour to itself on the watch which a hundred thousand or so of London +women carry in their breasts; the hour when men steal homewards +trickling at the mouth and drawing back from their own shadows to the +wives they once went a-maying with, or the mothers who had such travail +at the bearing of them, as if for great ends. Out of this, the +drunkard's hour, rose the wan face of Tommy, who had waked up somewhere +clammy cold and quaking, and he was a very little boy, so he ran to his +mother. + +Such a shabby dark room it was, but it was home, such a weary worn woman +in the bed, but he was her son, and she had been wringing her hands +because he was so long in coming, and do you think he hurt her when he +pressed his head on her poor breast, and do you think she grudged the +heat his cold hands drew from her warm face? He squeezed her with a +violence that put more heat into her blood than he took out of it. + +And he was very considerate, too: not a word of reproach in him, though +he knew very well what that bundle in the back of the bed was. + +She guessed that he had heard the news and stayed away through jealousy +of his sister, and by and by she said, with a faint smile, "I have a +present for you, laddie." In the great world without, she used few +Thrums words now; you would have known she was Scotch by her accent +only, but when she and Tommy were together in that room, with the door +shut, she always spoke as if her window still looked out on the bonny +Marywellbrae. It is not really bonny, it is gey an' mean an' bleak, and +you must not come to see it. It is just a steep wind-swept street, old +and wrinkled, like your mother's face. + +She had a present for him, she said, and Tommy replied, "I knows," with +averted face. + +"Such a bonny thing." + +"Bonny enough," he said bitterly. + +"Look at her, laddie." + +But he shrank from the ordeal, crying, "No, no, keep her covered up!" + +The little traitor seemed to be asleep, and so he ventured to say, +eagerly, "It wouldn't not take long to carry all our things to another +house, would it? Me and Shovel could near do it ourselves." + +"And that's God's truth," the woman said, with a look round the room. +"But what for should we do that?" + +"Do you no see, mother?" he whispered excitedly. "Then you and me could +slip away, and--and leave her--in the press." + +The feeble smile with which his mother received this he interpreted +thus, "Wherever we go'd to she would be there before us." + +"The little besom!" he cried helplessly. + +His mother saw that mischievous boys had been mounting him on his +horse, which needed only one slap to make it go a mile; but she was a +spiritless woman, and replied indifferently, "You're a funny litlin." + +Presently a dry sob broke from her, and thinking the child was the +cause, soft-hearted Tommy said, "It can't not be helped, mother; don't +cry, mother, I'm fond on yer yet, mother; I--I took her away. I found +another woman--but she would come." + +"She's God's gift, man," his mother said, but she added, in a different +tone, "Ay, but he hasna sent her keep." + +"God's gift!" Tommy shuddered, but he said sourly, "I wish he would take +her back. Do you wish that, too, mother?" + +The weary woman almost said she did, but her arms--they gripped the baby +as if frightened that he had sent for it. Jealous Tommy, suddenly +deprived of his mother's hand, cried, "It's true what Shovel says, you +don't not love me never again; you jest loves that little limmer!" + +"Na, na," the mother answered, passionate at last, "she can never be to +me what you hae been, my laddie, for you came to me when my hame was in +hell, and we tholed it thegither, you and me."' + +This bewildered though it comforted him. He thought his mother might be +speaking about the room in which they had lived until six months ago, +when his father was put into the black box, but when he asked her if +this were so, she told him to sleep, for she was dog-tired. She always +evaded him in this way when he questioned her about his past, but at +times his mind would wander backwards unbidden to those distant days, +and then he saw flitting dimly through them the elusive form of a child. +He knew it was himself, and for moments he could see it clearly, but +when he moved a step nearer it was not there. So does the child we once +were play hide and seek with us among the mists of infancy, until one +day he trips and falls into the daylight. Then we seize him, and with +that touch we two are one. It is the birth of self-consciousness. + +Hitherto he had slept at the back of his mother's bed, but to-night she +could not have him there, the place being occupied, and rather sulkily +he consented to lie crosswise at her feet, undressing by the feeble fire +and taking care, as he got into bed, not to look at the usurper. His +mother watched him furtively, and was relieved to read in his face that +he had no recollection of ever having slept at the foot of a bed before. +But soon after he fell asleep he awoke, and was afraid to move lest his +father should kick him. He opened his eyes stealthily, and this was +neither the room nor the bed he had expected to see. + +The floor was bare save for a sheepskin beside the bed. Tommy always +stood on the sheepskin while he was dressing because it was warm to the +feet, though risky, as your toes sometimes caught in knots in it. There +was a deal table in the middle of the floor with some dirty crockery +on it and a kettle that would leave a mark, but they had been left there +by Shovel's old girl, for Mrs. Sandys usually kept her house clean. The +chairs were of the commonest, and the press door would not remain shut +unless you stuck a knife between its halves; but there, was a gay blue +wardrobe, spotted white where Tommy's mother had scraped off the mud +that had once bespattered it during a lengthy sojourn at the door of a +shop; and on the mantelpiece was a clock in a little brown and yellow +house, and on the clock a Bible that had been in Thrums. But what Tommy +was proudest of was his mother's kist, to which the chests of Londoners +are not to be compared, though like it in appearance. On the inside of +the lid of this kist was pasted, after a Thrums custom, something that +his mother called her marriage lines, which she forced Shovel's mother +to come up and look at one day, when that lady had made an innuendo +Tommy did not understand, and Shovel's mother had looked, and though she +could not read, was convinced, knowing them by the shape. + +Tommy lay at the foot of the bed looking at this room, which was his +home now, and trying to think of the other one, and by and by the fire +helped him by falling to ashes, when darkness came in, and packing the +furniture in grotesque cloths, removed it piece by piece, all but the +clock. Then the room took a new shape. The fireplace was over there +instead of here, the torn yellow blind gave way to one made of spars of +green wood, that were bunched up at one side, like a lady out for a +walk. On a round table there was a beautiful blue cloth, with very few +gravy marks, and here a man ate beef when a woman and a boy ate bread, +and near the fire was the man's big soft chair, out of which you could +pull hairs, just as if it were Shovel's sister. + +Of this man who was his father he could get no hold. He could feel his +presence, but never see him. Yet he had a face. It sometimes pressed +Tommy's face against it in order to hurt him, which it could do, being +all short needles at the chin. + +Once in those days Tommy and his mother ran away and hid from some one. +He did not know from whom nor for how long, though it was but for a +week, and it left only two impressions on his mind, the one that he +often asked, "Is this starving now, mother?" the other that before +turning a corner she always peered round it fearfully. Then they went +back again to the man and he laughed when he saw them, but did not take +his feet off the mantelpiece. There came a time when the man was always +in bed, but still Tommy could not see his face. What he did see was the +man's clothes lying on the large chair just as he had placed them there +when he undressed for the last time. The black coat and worsted +waistcoat which he could take off together were on the seat, and the +light trousers hung over the side, the legs on the hearthrug, with the +red socks still sticking in them: a man without a body. + +But the boy had one vivid recollection of how his mother received the +news of his father's death. An old man with a white beard and gentle +ways, who often came to give the invalid physic, was standing at the +bedside, and Tommy and his mother were sitting on the fender. The old +man came to her and said, "It is all over," and put her softly into the +big chair. She covered her face with her hands, and he must have thought +she was crying, for he tried to comfort her. But as soon as he was gone +she rose, with such a queer face, and went on tiptoe to the bed, and +looked intently at her husband, and then she clapped her hands joyously +three times. + +At last Tommy fell asleep with his mouth open, which is the most +important thing that has been told of him as yet, and while he slept day +came and restored the furniture that night had stolen. But when the boy +woke he did not even notice the change; his brain traversed the hours it +had lost since he lay down as quickly as you may put on a stopped clock, +and with his first tick he was thinking of nothing but the deceiver in +the back of the bed. He raised his head, but could only see that she had +crawled under the coverlet to escape his wrath. His mother was asleep. +Tommy sat up and peeped over the edge of the bed, then he let his eyes +wander round the room; he was looking for the girl's clothes, but they +were nowhere to be seen. It is distressing to have to tell that what was +in his mind was merely the recovery of his penny. Perhaps as they were +Sunday clothes she had hung them up in the wardrobe? He slipped on to +the floor and crossed to the wardrobe, but not even the muff could he +find. Had she been tired, and gone to bed in them? Very softly he +crawled over his mother, and pulling the coverlet off the child's face, +got the great shock of his childhood. + +It was another one! + + + + +CHAPTER III + +SHOWING HOW TOMMY WAS SUDDENLY TRANSFORMED INTO A YOUNG GENTLEMAN + + +It would have fared ill with Mrs. Sandys now, had her standoffishness to +her neighbors been repaid in the same coin, but they were full of +sympathy, especially Shovel's old girl, from whom she had often drawn +back offensively on the stair, but who nevertheless waddled up several +times a day with savory messes, explaining, when Mrs. Sandys sniffed, +that it was not the tapiocar but merely the cup that smelt of gin. When +Tommy returned the cups she noticed not only that they were suspiciously +clean, but that minute particles of the mess were adhering to his nose +and chin (perched there like shipwrecked mariners on a rock, just out of +reach of the devouring element), and after this discovery she brought +two cupfuls at a time. She was an Irish, woman who could have led the +House of Commons, and in walking she seldom raised her carpet shoes from +the ground, perhaps because of her weight, for she had an expansive +figure that bulged in all directions, and there were always bits of her +here and there that she had forgotten to lace. Round the corner was a +delightful eating-house, through whose window you were allowed to gaze +at the great sweating dumplings, and Tommy thought Shovel's mother was +rather like a dumpling that had not been a complete success. If he ever +knew her name he forgot it. Shovel, who probably had another name also, +called her his old girl or his old woman or his old lady, and it was a +sight to see her chasing him across the street when she was in liquor, +and boastful was Shovel of the way she could lay on, and he was partial +to her too, and once when she was giving it to him pretty strong with +the tongs, his father (who followed many professions, among them that of +finding lost dogs), had struck her and told her to drop it, and then +Shovel sauced his father for interfering, saying she should lick him as +long as she blooming well liked, which made his father go for him with a +dog-collar; and that was how Shovel lost his eye. + +For reasons less unselfish than his old girl's Shovel also was willing +to make up to Tommy at this humiliating time. It might be said of these +two boys that Shovel knew everything but Tommy knew other things, and as +the other things are best worth hearing of Shovel liked to listen to +them, even when they were about Thrums, as they usually were. The very +first time Tommy told him of the wondrous spot, Shovel had drawn a great +breath, and said, thoughtfully: + +"I allers knowed as there were sich a beauty place, but I didn't jest +know its name." + +"How could yer know?" Tommy asked jealously. + +"I ain't sure," said Shovel, "p'raps I dreamed on it." + +"That's it," Tommy cried. "I tell yer, everybody dreams on it!" and +Tommy was right; everybody dreams of it, though not all call it Thrums. + +On the whole, then, the coming of the kid, who turned out to be called +Elspeth, did not ostracize Tommy, but he wished that he had let the +other girl in, for he never doubted that her admittance would have kept +this one out. He told neither his mother nor his friend of the other +girl, fearing that his mother would be angry with him when she learned +what she had missed, and that Shovel would crow over his blundering, but +occasionally he took a side glance at the victorious infant, and a +poorer affair, he thought, he had never set eyes on. Sometimes it was +she who looked at him, and then her chuckle of triumph was hard to bear. +As long as his mother was there, however, he endured in silence, but the +first day she went out in a vain search for work (it is about as +difficult to get washing as to get into the Cabinet), he gave the infant +a piece of his mind, poking up her head with a stick so that she was +bound to listen. + +"You thinks as it was clever on you, does yer? Oh, if I had been on the +stair! + +"You needn't not try to get round me. I likes the other one five times +better; yes, three times better. + +"Thievey, thievey, thief, that's her place you is lying in. What? + +"If you puts out your tongue at me again--! What do yer say? + +"She was twice bigger than you. You ain't got no hair, nor yet no teeth. +You're the littlest I ever seed. Eh? Don't not speak then, sulks!" + +Prudence had kept him away from the other girl, but he was feeling a +great want: someone to applaud him. When we grow older we call it +sympathy. How Reddy (as he called her because she had beautiful +red-brown hair) had appreciated him! She had a way he liked of opening +her eyes very wide when she looked at him. Oh, what a difference from +that thing in the back of the bed! + +Not the mere selfish desire to see her again, however, would take him in +quest of Reddy. He was one of those superior characters, was Tommy, who +got his pleasure in giving it, and therefore gave it. Now, Reddy was a +worthy girl. In suspecting her of overreaching him he had maligned her: +she had taken what he offered, and been thankful. It was fitting that he +should give her a treat: let her see him again. + +His mother was at last re-engaged by her old employers, her supplanter +having proved unsatisfactory, and as the work lay in a distant street, +she usually took the kid with her, thus leaving no one to spy on Tammy's +movements. Reddy's reward for not playing him false, however, did not +reach her as soon as doubtless she would have liked, because the first +two or three times he saw her she was walking with the lady of his +choice, and of course he was not such a fool as to show himself. But he +walked behind them and noted with satisfaction that the lady seemed to +be reconciled to her lot and inclined to let bygones be bygones; when +at length Reddy and her patron met, Tommy thought this a good sign too, +that Ma-ma (as she would call the lady) had told her not to go farther +away than the lamp-post, lest she should get lost again. So evidently +she had got lost once already, and the lady had been sorry. He asked +Reddy many shrewd questions about how Ma-ma treated her, and if she got +the top of the Sunday egg and had the licking of the pan and wore +flannel underneath and slept at the back; and the more he inquired, the +more clearly he saw that he had got her one of the right kind. + +Tommy arranged with her that she should always be on the outlook for him +at the window, and he would come sometimes, and after that they met +frequently, and she proved a credit to him, gurgling with mirth at his +tales of Thrums, and pinching him when he had finished, to make sure +that he was really made just like common human beings. He was a thin, +pale boy, while she looked like a baby rose full blown in a night +because her time was short; and his movements were sluggish, but if she +was not walking she must be dancing, and sometimes when there were few +people in the street, the little armful of delight that she was jumped +up and down like a ball, while Tommy kept the time, singing "Thrummy, +Thrummy, Thrum Thrum Thrummy." They must have seemed a quaint pair to +the lady as she sat at her window watching them and beckoning to Tommy +to come in. + +One day he went in, but only because she had come up behind and taken +his hand before he could run. Then did Tommy quake, for he knew from +Reddy how the day after the mother-making episode, Ma-ma and she had +sought in vain for his door, and he saw that the object had been to call +down curses on his head. So that head was hanging limply now. + +You think that Tommy is to be worsted at last, but don't be too sure; +you just wait and see. Ma-ma and Reddy (who was clucking rather +heartlessly) first took him into a room prettier even than the one he +had lived in long ago (but there was no bed in it), and then, because +someone they were in search of was not there, into another room without +a bed (where on earth did they sleep?) whose walls were lined with +books. Never having seen rows of books before except on sale in the +streets, Tommy at once looked about him for the barrow. The table was +strewn with sheets of paper of the size that they roll a quarter of +butter in, and it was an amazing thick table, a solid square of wood, +save for a narrow lane down the centre for the man to put his legs +in--if he had legs, which unfortunately there was reason to doubt. He +was a formidable man, whose beard licked the table while he wrote, and +he wore something like a brown blanket, with a rope tied round it at the +middle. Even more uncanny than himself were three busts on a shelf, +which Tommy took to be deaders, and he feared the blanket might blow +open and show that the man also ended at the waist. But he did not, for +presently he turned round to see who had come in (the seat of his chair +turning with him in the most startling way) and then Tommy was relieved +to notice two big feet far away at the end of him. + +"This is the boy, dear," the lady said. "I had to bring him in by +force." + +Tommy raised his arm instinctively to protect his face, this being the +kind of man who could hit hard. But presently he was confused, and also, +alas, leering a little. You may remember that Reddy had told him she +must not go beyond the lamp-post, lest she should be lost again. She had +given him no details of the adventure, but he learned now from Ma-ma and +Papa (the man's name was Papa) that she had strayed when Ma-ma was in a +shop and that some good kind boy had found her and brought her home; and +what do you say to this, they thought Tommy was that boy! In his +amazement he very nearly blurted out that he was the other boy, but just +then the lady asked Papa if he had a shilling, and this abruptly closed +Tommy's mouth. Ever afterwards he remembered Papa as the man that was +not sure whether he had a shilling until he felt his pockets--a new kind +of mortal to Tommy, who grabbed the shilling when it was offered to +him, and then looked at Reddy imploringly, he was so afraid she would +tell. But she behaved splendidly, and never even shook her head at him. +After this, as hardly need be told, his one desire was to get out of the +house with his shilling before they discovered their mistake, and it was +well that they were unsuspicious people, for he was making strange +hissing sounds in his throat, the result of trying hard to keep his +sniggers under control. + +There were many ways in which Tommy could have disposed of his shilling. +He might have been a good boy and returned it next day to Papa. He might +have given Reddy half of it for not telling. It could have carried him +over the winter. He might have stalked with it into the shop where the +greasy puddings were and come rolling out hours afterwards. Some of +these schemes did cross his little mind, but he decided to spend the +whole shilling on a present to his mother, and it was to be something +useful. He devoted much thought to what she was most in need of, and at +last he bought her a colored picture of Lord Byron swimming the +Hellespont. + +He told her that he got his shilling from two toffs for playing with a +little girl, and the explanation satisfied her; but she could have cried +at the waste of the money, which would have been such a God-send to her. +He cried altogether, however, at sight of her face, having expected it +to look so pleased, and then she told him, with caresses, that the +picture was the one thing she had been longing for ever since she came +to London. How had he known this, she asked, and he clapped his hands +gleefully, and said he just knowed when he saw it in the shop window. + +"It was noble of you," she said, "to spend all your siller on me." + +"Wasn't it, mother?" he crowed "I'm thinking there ain't many as noble +as I is!" + +He did not say why he had been so good to her, but it was because she +had written no letters to Thrums since the intrusion of Elspeth; a +strange reason for a boy whose greatest glory at one time had been to +sit on the fender and exultingly watch his mother write down words that +would be read aloud in the wonderful place. She was a long time in +writing a letter, but that only made the whole evening romantic, and he +found an arduous employment in keeping his tongue wet in preparation for +the licking of the stamp. + +But she could not write to the Thrums folk now without telling them of +Elspeth, who was at present sleeping the sleep of the shameless in the +hollow of the bed, and so for his sake, Tommy thought, she meant to +write no more. For his sake, mark you, not for her own. She had often +told him that some day he should go to Thrums, but not with her; she +would be far away from him then in a dark place she was awid to be lying +in. Thus it seemed, to Tommy that she denied herself the pleasure of +writing to Thrums lest the sorry news of Elspeth's advent should spoil +his reception when he went north. + +So grateful Tommy gave her the picture, hoping that it would fill the +void. But it did not. She put it on the mantelpiece so that she might +just sit and look at it, she said, and he grinned at it from every part +of the room, but when he returned to her, he saw that she was neither +looking at it nor thinking of it. She was looking straight before her, +and sometimes her lips twitched, and then she drew them into her mouth +to keep them still. It is a kind of dry weeping that sometimes comes to +miserable ones when their minds stray into the happy past, and Tommy sat +and watched her silently for a long time, never doubting that the cause +of all her woe was that she could not write to Thrums. + +He had seldom seen tears on his mother's face, but he saw one now. They +had been reluctant to come for many a day, and this one formed itself +beneath her eye and sat there like a blob of blood. + +His own began to come more freely. But she needn't not expect him to +tell her to write nor to say that he didn't care what Thrums thought of +him so long as she was happy. + +The tear rolled down his mother's thin cheek and fell on the grey shawl +that had come from Thrums. + +She did not hear her boy as he dragged a chair to the press and standing +on it got something down from the top shelf. She had forgotten him, and +she started when presently the pen was slipped into her hand and Tommy +said, "You can do it, mother, I wants yer to do it, mother, I won't not +greet, mother!" + +When she saw what he wanted her to do she patted his face approvingly, +but without realizing the extent of his sacrifice. She knew that he had +some maggot in his head that made him regard Elspeth as a sore on the +family honor, but ascribing his views to jealousy she had never tried +seriously to change them. Her main reason for sending no news to Thrums +of late had been but the cost of the stamp, though she was also a little +conscience-stricken at the kind of letters she wrote, and the sight of +the materials lying ready for her proved sufficient to draw her to the +table. + +"Is it to your grandmother you is writing the letter?" Tommy asked, for +her grandmother had brought Mrs. Sandys up and was her only surviving +relative. This was all Tommy knew of his mother's life in Thrums, though +she had told him much about other Thrums folk, and not till long +afterwards did he see that there must be something queer about herself, +which she was hiding from him. + +This letter was not for her granny, however, and Tommy asked next, "Is +it to Aaron Latta?" which so startled her that she dropped the pen. + +"Whaur heard you that name?" she said sharply. "I never spoke it to +you." + +"I've heard you saying it when you was sleeping, mother." + +"Did I say onything but the name? Quick, tell me." + +"You said, 'Oh, Aaron Latta, oh, Aaron, little did we think, Aaron,' and +things like that. Are you angry with me, mother?" + +"No," she said, relieved, but it was some time before the desire to +write came back to her. Then she told him "The letter is to a woman that +was gey cruel to me," adding, with a complacent pursing of her lips, the +curious remark, "That's the kind I like to write to best." + +The pen went scrape, scrape, but Tommy did not weary, though he often +sighed, because his mother would never read aloud to him what she wrote. +The Thrums people never answered her letters, for the reason, she said, +that those she wrote to could not write, which seemed to simple Tommy to +be a sufficient explanation. So he had never heard the inside of a +letter talking, though a postman lived in the house, and even Shovel's +old girl got letters; once when her uncle died she got a telegram, which +Shovel proudly wheeled up and down the street in a barrow, other blokes +keeping guard at the side. To give a letter to a woman who had been +cruel to you struck Tommy as the height of nobility. + +"She'll be uplifted when she gets it!" he cried. + +"She'll be mad when she gets it," answered his mother, without looking +up. + +This was the letter:-- + +"MY DEAR ESTHER,--I send you these few scrapes to let you see I have not +forgot you, though my way is now grand by yours. A spleet new black +silk, Esther, being the second in a twelvemonth, as I'm a living woman. +The other is no none tashed yet, but my gudeman fair insisted on buying +a new one, for says he 'Rich folk like as can afford to be mislaird, and +nothing's ower braw for my bonny Jean.' Tell Aaron Latta that. When I'm +sailing in my silks, Esther, I sometimes picture you turning your wincey +again, for I'se uphaud that's all the new frock you've ha'en the year. I +dinna want to give you a scunner of your man, Esther, more by token they +said if your mither had not took him in hand you would never have kent +the color of his nightcap, but when you are wraxing ower your kail-pot +in a plot of heat, just picture me ringing the bell for my servant, and +saying, with a wave of my hand, 'Servant, lay the dinner.' And ony bonny +afternoon when your man is cleaning out stables and you're at the tub in +a short gown, picture my man taking me and the children out a ride in a +carriage, and I sair doubt your bairns was never in nothing more genteel +than a coal cart. For bairns is yours, Esther, and children is mine, and +that's a burn without a brig till't. + +"Deary me, Esther, what with one thing and another, namely buying a +sofa, thirty shillings as I'm a sinner, I have forgot to tell you about +my second, and it's a girl this time, my man saying he would like a +change. We have christened her Elspeth after my grandmamma, and if my +auld granny's aye living, you can tell her that's her. My man is +terrible windy of his two beautiful children, but he says he would have +been the happiest gentleman in London though he had just had me, and +really his fondness for me, it cows, Esther, sitting aside me on the +bed, two pounds without the blankets, about the time Elspeth was born, +and feeding me with the fat of the land, namely, tapiocas and sherry +wine. Tell Aaron Latta that. + +"I pity you from the bottom of my heart, Esther, for having to bide in +Thrums, but you have never seen no better, your man having neither the +siller nor the desire to take yon jaunts, and I'm thinking that is just +as well, for if you saw how the like of me lives it might disgust you +with your own bit house. I often laugh, Esther, to think that I was once +like you, and looked upon Thrums as a bonny place. How is the old hole? +My son makes grand sport of the onfortunate bairns as has to bide in +Thrums, and I see him doing it the now to his favorite companion, which +is a young gentleman of ladylike manners, as bides in our terrace. So no +more at present, for my man is sitting ganting for my society, and I +daresay yours is crying to you to darn his old socks. Mind and tell +Aaron Latta." + +This letter was posted next day by Tommy, with the assistance of Shovel, +who seems to have been the young gentleman of ladylike manners referred +to in the text. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE END OF AN IDYLL + + +Tommy never saw Reddy again owing to a fright he got about this time, +for which she was really to blame, though a woman who lived in his house +was the instrument. + +It is, perhaps, idle to attempt a summary of those who lived in that +house, as one at least will be off, and another in his place, while we +are giving them a line apiece. They were usually this kind who lived +through the wall from Mrs. Sandys, but beneath her were the two rooms of +Hankey, the postman, and his lodger, the dreariest of middle-aged clerks +except when telling wistfully of his ambition, which was to get out of +the tea department into the coffee department, where there is an easier +way of counting up the figures. Shovel and family were also on this +floor, and in the rooms under them was a newly married couple. When the +husband was away at his work, his wife would make some change in the +furniture, taking the picture from this wall, for instance, and hanging +it on that wall, or wheeling the funny chair she had lain in before she +could walk without a crutch, to the other side of the fireplace, or +putting a skirt of yellow paper round the flower pot, and when he +returned he always jumped back in wonder and exclaimed: "What an immense +improvement!" These two were so fond of one another that Tommy asked +them the reason, and they gave it by pointing to the chair with the +wheels, which seemed to him to be no reason at all. What was this young +husband's trade Tommy never knew, but he was the only prettily dressed +man in the house, and he could be heard roaring in his sleep, "_And_ the +next article?" The meanest looking man lived next door to him. Every +morning this man put on a clean white shirt, which sounds like a +splendid beginning, but his other clothes were of the seediest, and he +came and went shivering, raising his shoulders to his ears and spreading +his hands over his chest as if anxious to hide his shirt rather than to +display it. He and the happy husband were nicknamed Before and After, +they were so like the pictorial advertisement of Man before and after he +has tried Someone's lozenges. But it is rash to judge by outsides; Tommy +and Shovel one day tracked Before to his place of business, and it +proved to be a palatial eating-house, long, narrow, padded with red +cushions; through the door they saw the once despised, now in beautiful +black clothes, the waistcoat a mere nothing, as if to give his shirt a +chance at last, a towel over his arm, and to and fro he darted, +saying "Yessirquitesosir" to the toffs on the seats, shouting +"Twovegonebeef--onebeeronetartinahurry" to someone invisible, and +pocketing twopences all day long, just like a lord. On the same floor as +Before and After lived the large family of little Pikes, who quarrelled +at night for the middle place in the bed, and then chips of ceiling fell +into the room below, tenant Jim Ricketts and parents, lodger the young +woman we have been trying all these doors for. Her the police snapped up +on a charge; that made Tommy want to hide himself--child-desertion. + +Shovel was the person best worth listening to on the subject (observe +him, the centre of half a dozen boys), and at first he was for the +defence, being a great stickler for the rights of mothers. But when the +case against the girl leaked out, she need not look to him for help. The +police had found the child in a basket down an area, and being knowing +ones they pinched it to make it cry, and then they pretended to go away. +Soon the mother, who was watching hard by to see if it fell into kind +hands, stole to her baby to comfort it, "and just as she were a kissing +on it and blubbering, the perlice copped her." + +"The slut!" said disgusted Shovel, "what did she hang about for?" and in +answer to a trembling question from Tommy he replied, decisively, "Six +months hard." + +"Next case" was probably called immediately, but Tommy vanished, as if +he had been sentenced and removed to the cells. + +Never again, unless he wanted six months hard, must he go near Reddy's +home, and so he now frequently accompanied his mother to the place where +she worked. The little room had a funny fireplace called a stove, on +which his mother made tea and the girls roasted chestnuts, and it had no +other ordinary furniture except a long form. But the walls were +mysterious. Three of them were covered with long white cloths, which +went to the side when you tugged them, and then you could see on rails +dozens of garments that looked like nightgowns. Beneath the form were +scores of little shoes, most of them white or brown. In this house +Tommy's mother spent eight hours daily, but not all of them in this +room. When she arrived the first thing she did was to put Elspeth on the +floor, because you cannot fall off a floor; then she went upstairs with +a bucket and a broom to a large bare room, where she stayed so long that +Tommy nearly forgot what she was like. + +While his mother was upstairs Tommy would give Elspeth two or three +shoes to eat to keep her quiet, and then he played with the others, +pretending to be able to count them, arranging them in designs, shooting +them, swimming among them, saying "bow-wow" at them and then turning +sharply to see who had said it. Soon Elspeth dropped her shoes and gazed +in admiration at him, but more often than not she laughed in the wrong +place, and then he said ironically: "Oh, in course I can't do nothin'; +jest let's see you doing of it, then, cocky!" + +By the time the girls began to arrive, singly or in twos and threes, his +mother was back in the little room, making tea for herself or sewing +bits of them that had been torn as they stepped out of a cab, or helping +them to put on the nightgowns, or pretending to listen pleasantly to +their chatter and hating them all the time. There was every kind of +them, gorgeous ones and shabby ones, old tired ones and dashing young +ones, but whether they were the Honorable Mrs. Something or only Jane +Anything, they all came to that room for the same purpose: to get a +little gown and a pair of shoes. Then they went upstairs and danced to a +stout little lady, called the Sylph, who bobbed about like a ball at the +end of a piece of elastic. What Tommy never forgot was that while they +danced the Sylph kept saying, "One, two, three, four; one, two, three, +four," which they did not seem to mind, but when she said "One, two, +three, four, _picture_!" they all stopped and stood motionless, though +it might be with one foot as high as their head and their arms stretched +out toward the floor, as if they had suddenly seen a halfpenny there. + +In the waiting-room, how they joked and pirouetted and gossiped, and +hugged and scorned each other, and what slang they spoke and how pretty +they often looked next moment, and how they denounced the one that had +just gone out as a cat with whom you could not get in a word edgeways, +and oh, how prompt they were to give a slice of their earnings to any +"cat" who was hard up! But still, they said, she had talent, but no +genius. How they pitied people without genius. + +Have you ever tasted an encore or a reception? Tommy never had his teeth +in one, but he heard much about them in that room, and concluded that +they were some sort of cake. It was not the girls who danced in groups, +but those who danced alone, that spoke of their encores and receptions, +and sometimes they had got them last night, sometimes years ago. Two +girls met in the room, one of whom had stolen the other's reception, +and--but it was too dreadful to write about. Most of them carried +newspaper cuttings in their purses and read them aloud to the others, +who would not listen. Tommy listened, however, and as it was all about +how one house had risen at the girls and they had brought another down, +he thought they led the most adventurous lives. + +Occasionally they sent him out to buy newspapers or chestnuts, and then +he had to keep a sharp eye on the police lest they knew about Reddy. It +was a point of honor with all the boys he knew to pretend that the +policeman was after them. To gull the policeman into thinking all was +well they blackened their faces and wore their jackets inside out; their +occupation was a constant state of readiness to fly from him, and when +he tramped out of sight, unconscious of their existence, they emerged +from dark places and spoke in exultant whispers. Tommy had been proud to +join them, but he now resented their going on in this way; he felt that +he alone had the right to fly from the law. And once at least while he +was flying something happened to him that he was to remember better, far +better, than his mother's face. + +What set him running on this occasion (he had been sent out to get one +of the girls' shoes soled) was the grandest sight to be seen in +London--an endless row of policemen walking in single file, all with the +right leg in the air at the same time, then the left leg. Seeing at once +that they were after him, Tommy ran, ran, ran until in turning a corner +he found himself wedged between two legs. He was of just sufficient size +to fill the aperture, but after a momentary look he squeezed through, +and they proved to be the gate into an enchanted land. + +The magic began at once. "Dagont, you sacket!" cried some wizard. + +A policeman's hand on his shoulder could not have taken the wind out of +Tommy more quickly. In the act of starting a-running again he brought +down his hind foot with a thud and stood stock still. Can any one +wonder? It was the Thrums tongue, and this the first time he had heard +it except from his mother. + +It was a dull day, and all the walls were dripping wet, this being the +part of London where the fogs are kept. Many men and women were passing +to and fro, and Tommy, with a wild exultation in his breast, peered up +at the face of this one and that; but no, they were only ordinary +people, and he played rub-a-dub with his feet on the pavement, so +furious was he with them for moving on as if nothing had happened. Draw +up, ye carters; pedestrians, stand still; London, silence for a moment, +and let Tommy Sandys listen! + +Being but a frail plant in the way of a flood, Tommy was rooted up and +borne onward, but he did not feel the buffeting. In a passion of grief +he dug his fists in his eyes, for the glory had been his for but a +moment. It can be compared to nothing save the parcel (attached to a +concealed string) which Shovel and he once placed on the stair for Billy +Hankey to find, and then whipped away from him just as he had got it +under his arm. But so near the crying, Tommy did not cry, for even while +the tears were rushing to his aid he tripped on the step of a shop, and +immediately, as if that had rung the magic bell again, a voice, a +woman's voice this time, said shrilly, "Threepence ha'penny, and them +jimply as big as a bantam's! Na, na, but I'll gi'e you five bawbees." + +Tommy sat down flop on the step, feeling queer in the head. Was it--was +it--was it Thrums? He knew he had been running a long time. + +The woman, or fairy, or whatever you choose to call her, came out of +the shop and had to push Tommy aside to get past. Oh, what a sweet foot +to be kicked by. At the time, he thought she was dressed not unlike the +women of his own stair, but this defect in his vision he mended +afterward, as you may hear. Of course, he rose and trotted by her side +like a dog, looking up at her as if she were a cathedral; but she +mistook his awe for impudence and sent him sprawling, with the words, +"Tak that, you glowering partan!" + +Do you think Tommy resented this? On the contrary he screamed from where +he lay, "Say it again! say it again!" + +She was gone, however, but only, as it were, to let a window open, from +which came the cry, "Davit, have you seen my man?" + +A male fairy roared back from some invisible place, "He has gone yont to +Petey's wi' the dambrod." + +"I'll dambrod him!" said the female fairy, and the window shut. + +Tommy was now staggering like one intoxicated, but he had still some +sense left him, and he walked up and down in front of this house, as if +to take care of it. In the middle of the street some boys were very busy +at a game, carts and lorries passing over them occasionally. They came +to the pavement to play marbles, and then Tommy noticed that one of them +wore what was probably a glengarry bonnet. Could he be a Thrums boy? + +At first he played in the stupid London way, but by and by he had to +make a new ring, and he did it by whirling round on one foot. Tommy knew +from his mother that it is only done in this way in Thrums. Oho! Oho! + +By this time he was prancing round his discovery, saying, "I'm one, +too--so am I--dagont, does yer hear? dagont!" which so alarmed the boy +that he picked up his marble and fled, Tommy, of course, after him. +Alas! he must have been some mischievous sprite, for he lured his +pursuer back into London and then vanished, and Tommy, searching in vain +for the enchanted street, found his own door instead. + +His mother pooh-poohed his tale, though he described the street exactly +as it struck him on reflection, and it bore a curious resemblance to the +palace of Aladdin that Reddy had told him about, leaving his imagination +to fill in the details, which it promptly did, with a square, a +town-house, some outside stairs, and an auld licht kirk. There was no +such street, however, his mother assured him; he had been dreaming. But +if this were so, why was she so anxious to make him promise never to +look for the place again? + +He did go in search of it again, daily for a time, always keeping a +look-out for bow-legs, and the moment he saw them, he dived recklessly +between, hoping to come out into fairyland on the other side. For though +he had lost the street, he knew that this was the way in. + +Shovel had never heard of the street, nor had Bob. But Bob gave him +something that almost made him forget it for a time. Bob was his +favorite among the dancing girls, and she--or should it be he? The odd +thing about these girls was that a number of them were really boys--or +at least were boys at Christmas-time, which seemed to Tommy to be even +stranger than if they had been boys all the year round. A friend of +Bob's remarked to her one day, "You are to be a girl next winter, ain't +you, Bob?" and Bob shook her head scornfully. + +"Do you see any green in my eye, my dear?" she inquired. + +Her friend did not look, but Tommy looked, and there was none. He +assured her of this so earnestly that Bob fell in love with him on the +spot, and chucked him under the chin, first with her thumb and then with +her toe, which feat was duly reported to Shovel, who could do it by the +end of the week. + +Did Tommy, Bob wanted to know, still think her a mere woman? + +No, he withdrew the charge, but--but--She was wearing her outdoor +garments, and he pointed to them, "Why does yer wear them, then?" he +demanded. + +"For the matter of that," she replied, pointing at his frock, "why do +you wear them?" Whereupon Tommy began to cry. + +"I ain't not got no right ones," he blubbered. Harum-scarum Bob, who +was a trump, had him in her motherly arms immediately, and the upshot of +it was that a blue suit she had worn when she was Sam Something changed +owners. Mrs. Sandys "made it up," and that is how Tommy got into +trousers. + +Many contingencies were considered in the making, but the suit would fit +Tommy by and by if he grew, or it shrunk, and they did not pass each +other in the night. When proud Tommy first put on his suit the most +unexpected shyness overcame him, and having set off vaingloriously he +stuck on the stair and wanted to hide. Shovel, who had been having an +argument with his old girl, came, all boastful bumps, to him, and Tommy +just stood still with a self-conscious simper on his face. And Shovel, +who could have damped him considerably, behaved in the most honorable +manner, initiating him gravely into the higher life, much as you show +the new member round your club. + +It was very risky to go back to Reddy, whom he had not seen for many +weeks; but in trousers! He could not help it. He only meant to walk up +and down her street, so that she might see him from the window, and know +that this splendid thing was he; but though he went several times into +the street, Reddy never came to the window. + +The reason he had to wait in vain at Reddy's door was that she was dead; +she had been dead for quite a long time when Tommy came back to look for +her. You mothers who have lost your babies, I should be a sorry knave +were I to ask you to cry now over the death of another woman's child. +Reddy had been lent to two people for a very little while, just as your +babies were, and when the time was up she blew a kiss to them and ran +gleefully back to God, just as your babies did. The gates of heaven are +so easily found when we are little, and they are always standing open to +let children wander in. + +But though Reddy was gone away forever, mamma still lived in that house, +and on a day she opened the door to come out, Tommy was standing +there--she saw him there waiting for Reddy. Dry-eyed this sorrowful +woman had heard the sentence pronounced, dry eyed she had followed the +little coffin to its grave; tears had not come even when waking from +illusive dreams she put out her hand in bed to a child who was not +there; but when she saw Tommy waiting at the door for Reddy, who had +been dead for a month, her bosom moved and she could cry again. + +Those tears were sweet to her husband, and it was he who took Tommy on +his knee in the room where the books were, and told him that there was +no Reddy now. When Tommy knew that Reddy was a deader he cried bitterly, +and the man said, very gently, "I am glad you were so fond of her." + +"'T ain't that," Tommy answered with a knuckle in his eye, "'t ain't +that as makes me cry." He looked down at his trousers and in a fresh +outburst of childish grief he wailed, "It's them!" + +Papa did not understand, but the boy explained. "She can't not never +see them now," he sobbed, "and I wants her to see them, and they has +pockets!" + +It had come to the man unexpectedly. He put Tommy down almost roughly, +and raised his hand to his head as if he felt a sudden pain there. + +But Tommy, you know, was only a little boy. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE GIRL WITH TWO MOTHERS + + +Elspeth at last did something to win Tommy's respect; she fell ill of an +ailment called in Thrums the croop. When Tommy first heard his mother +call it croop, he thought she was merely humoring Elspeth, and that it +was nothing more distinguished than London whooping-cough, but on +learning that it was genuine croop, he began to survey the ambitious +little creature with a new interest. + +This was well for Elspeth, as she had now to spend most of the day at +home with him, their mother, whose health was failing through frequent +attacks of bronchitis, being no longer able to carry her through the +streets. Of course Elspeth took to repaying his attentions by loving +him, and he soon suspected it, and then gloomily admitted it to himself, +but never to Shovel. Being but an Englishman, Shovel saw no reason why +relatives should conceal their affection for each other, but he played +on this Scottish weakness of Tommy's with cruel enjoyment. + +"She's fond on yer!" he would say severely. + +"You's a liar." + +"Gar long! I believe as you're fond on her!" + +"You jest take care, Shovel." + +"Ain't yer?" + +"Na-o!" + +"Will yer swear?" + +"So I will swear." + +"Let's hear yer." + +"Dagont!" + +So for a time the truth was kept hidden, and Shovel retired, casting +aspersions, and offering to eat all the hair on Elspeth's head for a +penny. + +This hair was white at present, which made Tommy uneasy about her +future, but on the whole he thought he might make something of her if +she was only longer. Sometimes he stretched her on the floor, pulling +her legs out straight, for she had a silly way of doubling them up, and +then he measured her carefully with his mother's old boots. Her growth +proved to be distressingly irregular, as one day she seemed to have +grown an inch since last night, and then next day she had shrunk two +inches. + +After her day's work Mrs. Sandys was now so listless that, had not Tommy +interfered, Elspeth would have been a backward child. Reddy had been +able to walk from the first day, and so of course had he, but this +little slow-coach's legs wobbled at the joints, like the blade of a +knife without a spring. The question of questions was How to keep her on +end? + +Tommy sat on the fender revolving this problem, his head resting on his +hand: that favorite position of mighty intellects when about to be +photographed, Elspeth lay on her stomach on the floor, gazing earnestly +at him, as if she knew she was in his thoughts for some stupendous +purpose. Thus the apple may have looked at Newton before it fell. + +Hankey, the postman, compelled the flowers in his window to stand erect +by tying them to sticks, so Tommy took two sticks from a bundle of +firewood, and splicing Elspeth's legs to them, held her upright against +the door with one hand. All he asked of her to-day was to remain in this +position after he said "One, two, three, four, _picture_!" and withdrew +his hand, but down she flopped every time, and he said, with scorn, + +"You ain't got no genius: you has just talent." + +But he had her in bed with the scratches nicely covered up before his +mother came home. + +He tried another plan with more success. Lost dogs, it may be +remembered, had a habit of following Shovel's father, and he not only +took the wanderers in, but taught them how to beg and shake hands and +walk on two legs. Tommy had sometimes been present at these agreeable +exercises, and being an inventive boy he--But as Elspeth was a nice +girl, let it suffice to pause here and add shyly, that in time she could +walk. + +He also taught her to speak, and if you need to be told with what +luscious word he enticed her into language you are sentenced to re-read +the first pages of his life. + +"Thrums," he would say persuasively, "Thrums, Thrums. You opens your +mouth like this, and shuts it like this, and that's it." Yet when he had +coaxed her thus for many days, what does she do but break her long +silence with the word "Tommy!" The recoil knocked her over. + +Soon afterward she brought down a bigger bird. No Londoner can say "Auld +licht," and Tommy had often crowed over Shovel's "Ol likt." When the +testing of Elspeth could be deferred no longer, he eyed her with the +look a hen gives the green egg on which she has been sitting twenty +days, but Elspeth triumphed, saying the words modestly even, as if +nothing inside her told her she had that day done something which would +have baffled Shakespeare, not to speak of most of the gentlemen who sit +for Scotch constituencies. + +"Reddy couldn't say it!" Tommy cried exultantly, and from that great +hour he had no more fears for Elspeth. + +Next the alphabet knocked for admission; and entered first _M_ and _P_, +which had prominence in the only poster visible from the window. Mrs. +Sandys had taught Tommy his letters, but he had got into words by +studying posters. + +Elspeth being able now to make the perilous descent of the stairs, +Tommy guided her through the streets (letting go hurriedly if Shovel +hove in sight), and here she bagged new letters daily. With Catlings +something, which is the best, she got into capital _C_s; _y_s are found +easily when you know where to look for them (they hang on behind); _N_s +are never found singly, but often three at a time; _Q_ is so +aristocratic that even Tommy had only heard of it, doubtless it was +there, but indistinguishable among the masses like a celebrity in a +crowd; on the other hand, big _A_ and little _e_ were so dirt cheap, +that these two scholars passed them with something very like a sneer. + +The printing-press is either the greatest blessing or the greatest curse +of modern times, one sometimes forgets which. Elspeth's faith in it was +absolute, and as it only spoke to her from placards, here was her +religion, at the age of four: + +"PRAY WITHOUT CEASING. +HAPPY ARE THEY WHO NEEDING KNOW THE +PAINLESS POROUS PLASTER." + +Of religion, Tommy had said many fine things to her, embellishments on +the simple doctrine taught him by his mother before the miseries of this +world made her indifferent to the next. But the meaning of "Pray without +ceasing," Elspeth, who was God's child always, seemed to find out for +herself, and it cured all her troubles. She prayed promptly for every +one she saw doing wrong, including Shovel, who occasionally had words +with Tommy on the subject, and she not only prayed for her mother, but +proposed to Tommy that they should buy her a porous plaster. Mrs. Sandys +had been down with bronchitis again. + +Tommy raised the monetary difficulty. + +Elspeth knew where there was some money, and it was her very own. + +Tommy knew where there was money, and it was his very own. + +Elspeth would not tell how much she had, and it was twopence halfpenny. + +Neither would Tommy tell, and it was twopence. + +Tommy would get a surprise on his birthday. + +So would Elspeth get a surprise on her birthday. + +Elspeth would not tell what the surprise was to be, and it was to be a +gun. + +Tommy also must remain mute, and it was to be a box of dominoes. + +Elspeth did not want dominoes. + +Tommy knew that, but he wanted them. + +Elspeth discovered that guns cost fourpence, and dominoes threepence +halfpenny; it seemed to her, therefore, that Tommy was defrauding her of +a halfpenny. + +Tommy liked her cheek. You got the dominoes for threepence halfpenny, +but the price on the box is fivepence, so that Elspeth would really owe +him a penny. + +This led to an agonizing scene in which Elspeth wept while Tommy told +her sternly about Reddy. It had become his custom to tell the tale of +Reddy when Elspeth was obstreperous. + +Then followed a scene in which Tommy called himself a scoundrel for +frightening his dear Elspeth, and swore that he loved none but her. +Result: reconciliation, and agreed, that instead of a gun and dominoes, +they should buy a porous plaster. You know the shops where the plasters +are to be obtained by great colored bottles in their windows, and, as it +was advisable to find the very best shop, Tommy and Elspeth in their +wanderings came under the influence of the bottles, red, yellow, green, +and blue, and color entered into their lives, giving them many delicious +thrills. These bottles are the first poem known to the London child, and +you chemists who are beginning to do without them in your windows should +be told that it is a shame. + +In the glamour, then, of the romantic battles walked Tommy and Elspeth +hand in hand, meeting so many novelties that they might have spared a +tear for the unfortunate children who sit in nurseries surrounded by all +they ask for, and if the adventures of these two frequently ended in the +middle, they had probably begun another while the sailor-suit boy was +still holding up his leg to let the nurse put on his little sock. While +they wandered, they drew near unwittingly to the enchanted street, to +which the bottles are a colored way, and at last they were in it, but +Tommy recognized it not; he did not even feel that he was near it, for +there were no outside stairs, no fairies strolling about, it was a short +street as shabby as his own. + +But someone had shouted "Dinna haver, lassie; you're blethering!" + +Tommy whispered to Elspeth, "Be still; don't speak," and he gripped her +hand tighter and stared at the speaker. He was a boy of ten, dressed +like a Londoner, and his companion had disappeared. Tommy never doubting +but that he was the sprite of long ago, gripped him by the sleeve. All +the savings of Elspeth and himself were in his pocket, and yielding to +impulse, as was his way, he thrust the fivepence halfpenny into James +Gloag's hand. The new millionaire gaped, but not at his patron, for the +why and wherefore of this gift were trifles to James beside the +tremendous fact that he had fivepence halfpenny. "Almichty me!" he cried +and bolted. Presently he returned, having deposited his money in a safe +place, and his first remark was perhaps the meanest on record. He held +out his hand and said greedily, "Have you ony mair?" + +This, you feel certain, must have been the most important event of that +evening, but strange to say, it was not. Before Tommy could answer +James's question, a woman in a shawl had pounced upon him and hurried +him and Elspeth out of the street. She had been standing at a corner +looking wistfully at the window blinds behind which folk from Thrums +passed to and fro, hiding her face from people in the street, but gazing +eagerly after them. It was Tommy's mother, whose first free act on +coming to London had been to find out that street, and many a time since +them site had skulked through it or watched it from dark places, never +daring to disclose herself, but sometimes recognizing familiar faces, +sometimes hearing a few words in the old tongue that is harsh and +ungracious to you, but was so sweet to her, and bearing them away with +her beneath her shawl as if they were something warm to lay over her +cold heart. + +For a time she upbraided Tommy passionately for not keeping away from +this street, but soon her hunger for news of Thrums overcame her +prudence, and she consented to let him go back if he promised never to +tell that his mother came from Thrums. "And if ony-body wants to ken +your name, say it's Tommy, but dinna let on that it's Tommy Sandys." + +"Elspeth," Tommy whispered that night, "I'm near sure there's something +queer about my mother and me and you." But he did not trouble himself +with wondering what the something queer might be, so engrossed was he in +the new and exciting life that had suddenly opened to him. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE ENCHANTED STREET + + +In Thrums Street, as it ought to have been called, herded at least +one-half of the Thrums folk in London, and they formed a colony, of +which the grocer at the corner sometimes said wrathfully that not a +member would give sixpence for anything except Bibles or whiskey. In the +streets one could only tell they were not Londoners by their walk, the +flagstones having no grip for their feet, or, if they had come south +late in life, by their backs, which they carried at the angle on which +webs are most easily supported. When mixing with the world they talked +the English tongue, which came out of them as broad as if it had been +squeezed through a mangle, but when the day's work was done, it was only +a few of the giddier striplings that remained Londoners. For the +majority there was no raking the streets after diversion, they spent the +hour or two before bed-time in reproducing the life of Thrums. Few of +them knew much of London except the nearest way between this street and +their work, and their most interesting visitor was a Presbyterian +minister, most of whose congregation lived in much more fashionable +parts, but they were almost exclusively servant girls, and when +descending area-steps to visit them he had been challenged often and +jocularly by policemen, which perhaps was what gave him a subdued and +furtive appearance. + +The rooms were furnished mainly with articles bought in London, but +these became as like Thrums dressers and seats as their owners could +make them, old Petey, for instance, cutting the back off a chair because +he felt most at home on stools. Drawers were used as baking-boards, +pails turned into salt-buckets, floors were sanded and hearthstones +ca'med, and the popular supper consisted of porter, hot water, and +soaked bread, after every spoonful of which, they groaned pleasantly, +and stretched their legs. Sometimes they played at the dambrod, but more +often they pulled down the blinds on London and talked of Thrums in +their mother tongue. Nevertheless few of them wanted to return to it, +and their favorite joke was the case of James Gloag's father, who being +home-sick flung up his situation and took train for Thrums, but he was +back in London in three weeks. + +Tommy soon had the entry to these homes, and his first news of the +inmates was unexpected. It was that they were always sleeping. In broad +daylight he had seen Thrums men asleep on beds, and he was somewhat +ashamed of them until he heard the excuse. A number of the men from +Thrums were bakers, the first emigrant of this trade having drawn others +after him, and they slept great part of the day to be able to work all +night in a cellar, making nice rolls for rich people. Baker Lumsden, who +became a friend of Tommy, had got his place in the cellar when his +brother died, and the brother had succeeded Matthew Croall when he died. + +They die very soon, Tommy learned from Lumsden, generally when they are +eight and thirty. Lumsden was thirty-six, and when he died his nephew +was to get the place. The wages are good. + +Then there were several masons, one of whom, like the first baker, had +found work for all the others, and there were men who had drifted into +trades strange to their birthplace, and there was usually one at least +who had come to London to "better himself" and had not done it as yet. +The family Tommy liked best was the Whamonds, and especially he liked +old Petey and young Petey Whamond. They were a large family of women and +men, all of whom earned their living in other streets, except the old +man, who kept house and was a famous knitter of stockings, as probably +his father had been before him. He was a great one, too, at telling what +they would be doing at that moment in Thrums, every corner of which was +as familiar to him as the ins and outs of the family hose. Young Petey +got fourteen shillings a week from a hatter, and one of his duties was +to carry as many as twenty band-boxes at a time through fashionable +streets; it is a matter for elation that dukes and statesmen had often +to take the curb-stone, because young Petey was coming. Nevertheless +young Petey was not satisfied, and never would be (such is the Thrums +nature) until he became a salesman in the shop to which he acted at +present as fetch and carry, and he used to tell Tommy that this position +would be his as soon as he could sneer sufficiently at the old hats. +When gentlemen come into the shop and buy a new hat, he explained, they +put it on, meaning to tell you to send the old one to their address, and +the art of being a fashionable hatter lies in this: you must be able to +curl your lips so contemptuously at the old hat that they tell you +guiltily to keep it, as they have no further use for it. Then they +retire ashamed of their want of moral courage and you have made an extra +half-guinea. + +"But I aye snort," young Petey admitted, "and it should be done without +a sound." When he graduated, he was to marry Martha Spens, who was +waiting for him at Tillyloss. There was a London seamstress whom he +preferred, and she was willing, but it is safest to stick to Thrums. + +When Tommy was among his new friends a Scotch word or phrase often +escaped his lips, but old Petey and the others thought he had picked it +up from them, and would have been content to accept him as a London waif +who lived somewhere round the corner. To trick people so simply, +however, is not agreeable to an artist, and he told them his name was +Tommy Shovel, and that his old girl walloped him, and his father found +dogs, all which inventions Thrums Street accepted as true. What is much +more noteworthy is that, as he gave them birth, Tommy half believed them +also, being already the best kind of actor. + +Not all the talking was done by Tommy when he came home with news, for +he seldom mentioned a Thrums name, of which his mother could not tell +him something more. But sometimes she did not choose to tell, as when he +announced that a certain Elspeth Lindsay, of the Marywellbrae, was dead. +After this she ceased to listen, for old Elspeth had been her +grandmother, and she had now no kin in Thrums. + +"Tell me about the Painted Lady," Tommy said to her. "Is it true she's a +witch?" But Mrs. Sandys had never heard of any woman so called: the +Painted Lady must have gone to Thrums after her time. + +"There ain't no witches now," said Elspeth tremulously; Shovel's mother +had told her so. + +"Not in London," replied Tommy, with contempt; and this is all that was +said of the Painted Lady then. It is the first mention of her in these +pages. + +The people Mrs. Sandys wanted to hear of chiefly were Aaron Latta and +Jean Myles, and soon Tommy brought news of them, but at the same time he +had heard of the Den, and he said first: + +"Oh, mother, I thought as you had told me about all the beauty places +in Thrums, and you ain't never told me about the Den." + +His mother heaved a quick breath. "It's the only place I hinna telled +you o'," she said. + +"Had you forget, it mother?" + +Forget the Den! Ah, no, Tommy, your mother had not forgotten the Den. + +"And, listen, Elspeth, in the Den there's a bonny spring of water called +the Cuttle Well. Had you forgot the Cuttle Well, mother?" + +No, no; when Jean Myles forgot the names of her children she would still +remember the Cuttle Well. Regardless now of the whispering between Tommy +and Elspeth, she sat long over the fire, and it is not difficult to +fathom her thoughts. They were of the Den and the Cuttle Well. + +Into the life of every man, and no woman, there comes a moment when he +learns suddenly that he is held eligible for marriage. A girl gives him +the jag, and it brings out the perspiration. Of the issue elsewhere of +this stab with a bodkin let others speak; in Thrums its commonest effect +is to make the callant's body take a right angle to his legs, for he has +been touched in the fifth button, and he backs away broken-winded. By +and by, however, he is at his work--among the turnip-shoots, +say--guffawing and clapping his corduroys, with pauses for uneasy +meditation, and there he ripens with the swedes, so that by the +back-end of the year he has discovered, and exults to know, that the +reward of manhood is neither more nor less than this sensation at the +ribs. Soon thereafter, or at worst, sooner or later (for by holding out +he only puts the women's dander up), he is led captive to the Cuttle +Well. This well has the reputation of being the place where it is most +easily said. + +The wooded ravine called the Den is in Thrums rather than on its western +edge, but is so craftily hidden away that when within a stone's throw +you may give up the search for it; it is also so deep that larks rise +from the bottom and carol overhead, thinking themselves high in the +heavens before they are on a level with Nether Drumley's farmland. In +shape it is almost a semicircle, but its size depends on you and the +maid. If she be with you, the Den is so large that you must rest here +and there; if you are after her boldly, you can dash to the Cuttle Well, +which was the trysting-place, in the time a stout man takes to lace his +boots; if you are of those self-conscious ones who look behind to see +whether jeering blades are following, you may crouch and wriggle your +way onward and not be with her in half an hour. + +Old Petey had told Tommy that, on the whole, the greatest pleasure in +life on a Saturday evening is to put your back against a stile that +leads into the Den and rally the sweethearts as they go by. The lads, +when they see you, want to go round by the other stile, but the lasses +like it, and often the sport ends spiritedly with their giving you a +clout on the head. + +Through the Den runs a tiny burn, and by its side is a pink path, dyed +this pretty color, perhaps, by the blushes the ladies leave behind them. +The burn as it passes the Cuttle Well, which stands higher and just out +of sight, leaps in vain to see who is making that cooing noise, and the +well, taking the spray for kisses, laughs all day at Romeo, who cannot +get up. Well is a name it must have given itself, for it is only a +spring in the bottom of a basinful of water, where it makes about as +much stir in the world as a minnow jumping at a fly. They say that if a +boy, by making a bowl of his hands, should suddenly carry off all the +water, a quick girl could thread her needle at the spring. But it is a +spring that will not wait a moment. + +Men who have been lads in Thrums sometimes go back to it from London or +from across the seas, to look again at some battered little house and +feel the blasts of their bairnhood playing through the old wynds, and +they may take with them a foreign wife. They show her everything, except +the Cuttle Well; they often go there alone. The well is sacred to the +memory of first love. You may walk from the well to the round cemetery +in ten minutes. It is a common walk for those who go back. + +First love is but a boy and girl playing at the Cuttle Well with a +bird's egg. They blow it on one summer evening in the long grass, and on +the next it is borne away on a coarse laugh, or it breaks beneath the +burden of a tear. And yet--I once saw an aged woman, a widow of many +years, cry softly at mention of the Cuttle Well. "John was a good man to +you," I said, for John had been her husband. "He was a leal man to me," +she answered with wistful eyes, "ay, he was a leal man to me--but it +wasna John I was thinking o'. You dinna ken what makes me greet so +sair," she added, presently, and though I thought I knew now I was +wrong. "It's because I canna mind his name," she said. + +So the Cuttle Well has its sad memories and its bright ones, and many of +the bright memories have become sad with age, as so often happens to +beautiful things, but the most mournful of all is the story of Aaron +Latta and Jean Myles. Beside the well there stood for long a great pink +stone, called the Shoaging, Stone, because it could be rocked like a +cradle, and on it lovers used to cut their names. Often Aaron Latta and +Jean Myles sat together on the Shoaging Stone, and then there came a +time when it bore these words cut by Aaron Latta: + +HERE LIES THE MANHOOD OF AARON LATTA, A FOND SON, A FAITHFUL FRIEND +AND A TRUE LOVER, WHO VIOLATED THE FEELINGS OF SEX ON THIS SPOT, AND IS +NOW THE SCUNNER OF GOD AND MAN + +Tommy's mother now heard these words for the first time, Aaron having +cut them on the stone after she left Thrums, and her head sank at each +line, as if someone had struck four blows at her. + +The stone was no longer at the Cuttle Well. As the easiest way of +obliterating the words, the minister had ordered it to be broken, and of +the pieces another mason had made stands for watches, one of which was +now in Thrums Street. + +"Aaron Latta ain't a mason now," Tommy rattled on: "he is a warper, +because he can warp in his own house without looking on mankind or +speaking to mankind. Auld Petey said he minded the day when Aaron Latta +was a merry loon, and then Andrew McVittie said, 'God behears, to think +that Aaron Latta was ever a merry man!' and Baker Lumsden said, 'Curse +her!'" + +His mother shrank in her chair, but said nothing, and Tommy explained: +"It was Jean Myles he was cursing; did you ken her, mother? she ruined +Aaron Latta's life." + +"Ay, and wha ruined Jean Myles's life?" his mother cried passionately. + +Tommy did not know, but he thought that young Petey might know, for +young Petey had said: "If I had been Jean Myles I would have spat in +Aaron's face rather than marry him." + +Mrs. Sandys seemed pleased to hear this. + +"They wouldna tell me what it were she did," Tommy went on; "they said +it was ower ugly a story, but she were a bad one, for they stoned her +out of Thrums. I dinna know where she is now, but she were stoned out of +Thrums!" + +"No alane?" + +"There was a man with her, and his name was--it was--" + +His mother clasped her hands nervously while Tommy tried to remember the +name. "His name was Magerful Tam," he said at length. + +"Ay," said his mother, knitting her teeth, "that was his name." + +"I dinna mind any more," Tommy concluded. "Yes, I mind they aye called +Aaron Latta 'Poor Aaron Latta.'" + +"Did they? I warrant, though, there wasna one as said 'Poor Jean +Myles'?" + +She began the question in a hard voice, but as she said "Poor Jean +Myles" something caught in her throat, and she sobbed, painful dry sobs. + +"How could they pity her when she were such a bad one?" Tommy answered +briskly. + +"Is there none to pity bad ones?" said his sorrowful mother. + +Elspeth plucked her by the skirt. "There's God, ain't there?" she said, +inquiringly, and getting no answer she flopped upon her knees, to say a +babyish prayer that would sound comic to anybody except to Him to whom +it was addressed. + +"You ain't praying for a woman as was a disgrace to Thrums!" Tommy +cried, jealously, and he was about to raise her by force, when his +mother stayed his hand. + +"Let her alane," she said, with a twitching mouth and filmy eyes. "Let +her alane. Let my bairn pray for Jean Myles." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +COMIC OVERTURE TO A TRAGEDY + + +"Jean Myles bides in London" was the next remarkable news brought by +Tommy from Thrums Street. "And that ain't all, Magerful Tam is her man; +and that ain't all, she has a laddie called Tommy and that ain't all, +Petey and the rest has never seen her in London, but she writes letters +to Thrums folks and they writes to Petey and tells him what she said. +That ain't all neither, they canna find out what street she bides in, +but it's on the bonny side of London, and it's grand, and she wears silk +clothes, and her Tommy has velvet trousers, and they have a servant as +calls him 'sir.' Oh, I would just like to kick him! They often looks for +her in the grand streets, but they're angry at her getting on so well, +and Martha Scrymgeour said it were enough to make good women like her +stop going reg'lar to the kirk." + +"Martha said that!" exclaimed his mother, highly pleased. "Heard you +anything of a woman called Esther Auld? Her man does the orra work at +the Tappit Hen public in Thrums." + +"He's head man at the Tappit Hen public now," answered Tommy; "and she +wishes she could find out where Jean Myles bides, so as she could write +and tell her that she is grand too, and has six hair-bottomed chairs." + +"She'll never get the satisfaction," said his mother triumphantly. "Tell +me more about her." + +"She has a laddie called Francie, and he has yellow curls, and she +nearly greets because she canna tell Jean Myles that he goes to a school +for the children of gentlemen only. She is so mad when she gets a letter +from Jean Myles that she takes to her bed." + +"Yea, yea!" said Mrs. Sandys cheerily. + +"But they think Jean Myles has been brought low at last," continued +Tommy, "because she hasna wrote for a long time to Thrums, and Esther +Auld said that if she knowed for certain as Jean Myles had been brought +low, she would put a threepenny bit in the kirk plate." + +"I'm glad you've telled me that, laddie," said Mrs. Sandys, and next +day, unknown to her children, she wrote another letter. She knew she ran +a risk of discovery, yet it was probable that Tommy would only hear her +referred to in Thrums Street by her maiden name, which he had never +heard from her, and as for her husband he had been Magerful Tam to +everyone. The risk was great, but the pleasure-- + +Unsuspicious Tommy soon had news of another letter from Jean Myles, +which had sent Esther Auld to bed again. + +"Instead of being brought low," he announced, "Jean Myles is grander +than ever. Her Tommy has a governess." + +"That would be a doush of water in Esther's face?" his mother said, +smiling. + +"She wrote to Martha Scrymgeour," said Tommy, "that it ain't no pleasure +to her now to boast as her laddie is at a school for gentlemen's +children only. But what made her maddest was a bit in Jean Myles's +letter about chairs. Jean Myles has give all her hair-bottomed chairs to +a poor woman and buyed a new kind, because hair-bottomed ones ain't +fashionable now. So Esther Auld can't not bear the sight of her chairs +now, though she were windy of them till the letter went to Thrums." + +"Poor Esther!" said Mrs. Sandys gaily. + +"Oh, and I forgot this, mother. Jean Myles's reason for not telling +where she bides in London is that she's so grand that she thinks if auld +Petey and the rest knowed where the place was they would visit her and +boast as they was her friends. Auld Petey stamped wi' rage when he heard +that, and Martha Scrymgeour said, 'Oh, the pridefu' limmer!'" + +"Ay, Martha," muttered Mrs. Sandys, "you and Jean Myles is evens now." + +But the passage that had made them all wince the most was one giving +Jean's reasons for making no calls in Thrums Street. "You can break it +to Martha Scrymgeour's father and mither," the letter said, "and to +Petey Whamond's sisters and the rest as has friends in London, that I +have seen no Thrums faces here, the low part where they bide not being +for the like of me to file my feet in. Forby that, I could not let my +son mix with their bairns for fear they should teach him the vulgar +Thrums words and clarty his blue-velvet suit. I'm thinking you have to +dress your laddie in corduroy, Esther, but you see that would not do for +mine. So no more at present, and we all join in compliments, and my +little velvets says he wishes I would send some of his toys to your +little corduroys. And so maybe I will, Esther, if you'll tell Aaron +Latta how rich and happy I am, and if you're feared to say it to his +face, tell it to the roaring farmer of Double Dykes, and he'll pass it +on." + +"Did you ever hear of such a woman?" Tommy said indignantly, when he had +repeated as much of this insult to Thrums as he could remember. + +But it was information his mother wanted. + +"What said they to that bit?" she asked. + +At first, it appears, they limited their comments to "Losh, losh," +"keeps a'," "it cows," "my eertie," "ay, ay," "sal, tal," "dagont" (the +meaning of which is obvious). But by and by they recovered their breath, +and then Baker Lamsden said, wonderingly: + +"Wha that was at her marriage could have thought it would turn out so +weel? It was an eerie marriage that, Petey!" + +"Ay, man, you may say so," old Petey answered. "I was there; I was one +o' them as went in ahint Aaron Latta, and I'm no' likely to forget it." + +"I wasna there," said the baker, "but I was standing at the door, and I +saw the hearse drive up." + +"What did they mean, mother?" Tommy asked, but she shuddered and +replied, evasively, "Did Martha Scrymgeour say anything?" + +"She said such a lot," he had to confess, "that I dinna mind none on it. +But I mind what her father in Thrums wrote to her; he wrote to her that +if she saw a carriage go by, she was to keep her eyes on the ground, for +likely as not Jean Myles would be in it, and she thought as they was all +dirt beneath her feet. But Kirsty Ross--who is she?" + +"She's Martha's mother. What about her?" + +"She wrote at the end of the letter that Martha was to hang on ahint the +carriage and find out where Jean Myles bides." + +"Laddie, that was like Kirsty! Heard you what the roaring farmer o' +Double Dykes said?" + +No, Tommy had not heard him mentioned. And indeed the roaring farmer of +Double Dykes had said nothing. He was already lying very quiet on the +south side of the cemetery. + +Tommy's mother's next question cost her a painful effort. "Did you +hear," she asked, "whether they telled Aaron Latta about the letter?" + +"Yes, they telled him," Tommy replied, "and he said a queer thing; he +said, 'Jean Myles is dead, I was at her coffining.' That's what he aye +says when they tell him there's another letter. I wonder what he means, +mother?" + +"I wonder!" she echoed, faintly. The only pleasure left her was to raise +the envy of those who had hooted her from Thrums, but she paid a price +for it. Many a stab she had got from the unwitting Tommy as he repeated +the gossip of his new friends, and she only won their envy at the cost +of their increased ill-will. They thought she was lording it in London, +and so they were merciless; had they known how poor she was and how ill, +they would have forgotten everything save that she was a Thrummy like +themselves, and there were few but would have shared their all with her. +But she did not believe this, and therefore you may pity her, for the +hour was drawing near, and she knew it, when she must appeal to some one +for her children's sake, not for her own. + +No, not for her own. When Tommy was wandering the pretty parts of London +with James Gloag and other boys from Thrums Street in search of Jean +Myles, whom they were to know by her carriage and her silk dress and her +son in blue velvet, his mother was in bed with bronchitis in the +wretched room we know of, or creeping to the dancing school, coughing +all the way. + +Some of the fits of coughing were very near being her last, but she +wrestled with her trouble, seeming at times to stifle it, and then for +weeks she managed to go to her work, which was still hers, because +Shovel's old girl did it for her when the bronchitis would not be +defied. Shovel's old slattern gave this service unasked and without +payment; if she was thanked it was ungraciously, but she continued to do +all she could when there was need; she smelled of gin, but she continued +to do all she could. + +The wardrobe had been put upon its back on the floor, and so converted +into a bed for Tommy and Elspeth, who were sometimes wakened in the +night by a loud noise, which alarmed them until they learned that it was +only the man in the next room knocking angrily on the wall because their +mother's cough kept him from sleeping. + +Tommy knew what death was now, and Elspeth knew its name, and both were +vaguely aware that it was looking for their mother; but if she could +only hold out till Hogmanay, Tommy said, they would fleg it out of the +house. Hogmanay is the mighty winter festival of Thrums, and when it +came round these two were to give their mother a present that would make +her strong. It was not to be a porous plaster. Tommy knew now of +something better than that. + +"And I knows too!" Elspeth gurgled, "and I has threepence a'ready, I +has." + +"Whisht!" said Tommy, in an agony of dread, "she hears you, and she'll +guess. We ain't speaking of nothing to give to you at Hogmanay," he said +to his mother with great cunning. Then he winked at Elspeth and said, +with his hand over his mouth, "I hinna twopence!" and Elspeth, about to +cry in fright, "Have you spended it?" saw the joke and crowed instead, +"Nor yet has I threepence!" + +They smirked together, until Tommy saw a change come over Elspeth's +face, which made him run her outside the door. + +"You was a-going to pray!" he said, severely. + +"'Cos it was a lie, Tommy. I does have threepence." + +"Well, you ain't a-going to get praying about it. She would hear yer." + +"I would do it low, Tommy." + +"She would see yer." + +"Oh, Tommy, let me. God is angry with me." + +Tommy looked down the stair, and no one was in sight. "I'll let yer pray +here," he whispered, "and you can say I have twopence. But be quick, and +do it standing." + +Perhaps Mrs. Sandys had been thinking that when Hogmanay came her +children might have no mother to bring presents to, for on their return +to the room her eyes followed them woefully, and a shudder of +apprehension shook her torn frame. Tommy gave Elspeth a look that meant +"I'm sure there's something queer about her." + +There was also something queer about himself, which at this time had the +strangest gallop. It began one day with a series of morning calls from +Shovel, who suddenly popped his head over the top of the door (he was +standing on the handle), roared "Roastbeef!" in the manner of a railway +porter announcing the name of a station, and then at once withdrew. + +He returned presently to say that vain must be all attempts to wheedle +his secret from him, and yet again to ask irritably why Tommy was not +coming out to hear all about it. Then did Tommy desert Elspeth, and on +the stair Shovel showed him a yellow card with this printed on it: +"S.R.J.C.--Supper Ticket;" and written beneath, in a lady's hand: "Admit +Joseph Salt." The letters, Shovel explained, meant Society for the +somethink of Juvenile Criminals, and the toffs what ran it got hold of +you when you came out of quod. Then if you was willing to repent they +wrote down your name and the place what you lived at in a book, and one +of them came to see yer and give yer a ticket for the blow-out night. +This was blow-out night, and that were Shovel's ticket. He had bought it +from Hump Salt for fourpence. What you get at the blow-out was +roast-beef, plum-duff, and an orange; but when Hump saw the fourpence he +could not wait. + +A favor was asked of Tommy. Shovel had been told by Hump that it was the +custom of the toffs to sit beside you and question you about your +crimes, and lacking the imagination that made Tommy such an ornament to +the house, the chances were that he would flounder in his answers and +be ejected. Hump had pointed this out to him after pocketing the +fourpence. Would Tommy, therefore, make up things for him to say; +reward, the orange. + +This was a proud moment for Tommy, as Shovel's knowledge of crime was +much more extensive than his own, though they had both studied it in the +pictures of a lively newspaper subscribed to by Shovel, senior. He +became patronizing at once and rejected the orange as insufficient. + +Then suppose, after he got into the hall, Shovel dropped his ticket out +at the window; Tommy could pick it up, and then it would admit him also. + +Tommy liked this, but foresaw a danger: the ticket might be taken from +Shovel at the door, just as they took them from you at that singing +thing in the church he had attended with young Petey. + +So help Shovel's davy, there was no fear of this. They were superior +toffs, what trusted to your honor. + +Would Shovel swear to this? + +He would. + +But would he swear dagont? + +He swore dagont; and then Tommy had him. As he was so sure of it, he +could not object to Tommy's being the one who dropped the ticket out at +the window? + +Shovel did object for a time, but after a wrangle he gave up the ticket, +intending to take it from Tommy when primed with the necessary tale. So +they parted until evening, and Tommy returned to Elspeth, secretive but +elated. For the rest of the day he was in thought, now waggling his head +smugly over some dark, unutterable design and again looking a little +scared. In growing alarm she watched his face, and at last she slipped +upon her knees, but he had her up at once and said, reproachfully: + +"It were me as teached yer to pray, and now yer prays for me! That's +fine treatment!" + +Nevertheless, after his mother's return, just before he stole out to +join Shovel, he took Elspeth aside and whispered to her, nervously: + +"You can pray for me if you like, for, oh, Elspeth; I'm thinking as I'll +need it sore!" And sore he needed it before the night was out. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE BOY WITH TWO MOTHERS + + +"I love my dear father and my dear mother and all the dear little kids +at 'ome. You are a kind laidy or gentleman. I love yer. I will never do +it again, so help me bob. Amen." + +This was what Shovel muttered to himself again and again as the two boys +made their way across the lamp-lit Hungerford Bridge, and Tommy asked +him what it meant. + +"My old gal learned me that; she's deep," Shovel said, wiping the words +off his mouth with his sleeve. + +"But you got no kids at 'ome!" remonstrated Tommy. (Ameliar was now in +service.) + +Shovel turned on him with the fury of a mother protecting her young. +"Don't you try for to knock none on it out," he cried, and again fell +a-mumbling. + +Said Tommy, scornfully: "If you says it all out at one bang you'll be +done at the start." + +Shovel sighed. + +"And you should blubber when yer says it," added Tommy, who could laugh +or cry merely because other people were laughing or crying, or even with +less reason, and so naturally that he found it more difficult to stop +than to begin. Shovel was the taller by half a head, and irresistible +with his fists, but to-night Tommy was master. + +"You jest stick to me, Shovel," he said airily. "Keep a grip on my hand, +same as if yer was Elspeth." + +"But what was we copped for, Tommy?" entreated humble Shovel. + +Tommy asked him if he knew what a butler was, and Shovel remembered, +confusedly, that there had been a portrait of a butler in his father's +news-sheet. + +"Well, then," said Tommy, inspired by this same source, "there's a room +a butler has, and it is a pantry, so you and me we crawled through the +winder and we opened the door to the gang. You and me was copped. They +catched you below the table and me stabbing the butler." + +"It was me what stabbed the butler," Shovel interposed, jealously. + +"How could you do it, Shovel?" + +"With a knife, I tell yer!" + +"Why, you didn't have no knife," said Tommy, impatiently. + +This crushed Shovel, but he growled sulkily: + +"Well, I bit him in the leg." + +"Not you," said selfish Tommy. "You forgets about repenting, and if I +let yer bite him, you would brag about it. It's safer without, Shovel." + +Perhaps it was. "How long did I get in quod, then, Tommy?" + +"Fourteen days." + +"So did you?" Shovel said, with quick anxiety. + +"I got a month," replied Tommy, firmly. + +Shovel roared a word that would never have admitted him to the hall. +Then, "I'm as game as you, and gamer," he whined. + +"But I'm better at repenting. I tell yer, I'll cry when I'm repenting." +Tommy's face lit up, and Shovel could not help saying, with a curious +look at it: + +"You--you ain't like any other cove I knows," to which Tommy replied, +also in an awe-struck voice: + +"I'm so queer, Shovel, that when I thinks 'bout myself I'm--I'm +sometimes near feared." + +"What makes your face for to shine like that? Is it thinking about the +blow-out?" + +No, it was hardly that, but Tommy could not tell what it was. He and the +saying about art for art's sake were in the streets that night, looking +for each other. + +The splendor of the brightly lighted hall, which was situated in one of +the meanest streets of perhaps the most densely populated quarter in +London, broke upon the two boys suddenly and hit each in his vital part, +tapping an invitation on Tommy's brain-pan and taking Shovel +coquettishly in the stomach. Now was the moment when Shovel meant to +strip Tommy of the ticket, but the spectacle in front dazed him, and he +stopped to tell a vegetable barrow how he loved his dear father and his +dear mother, and all the dear kids at home. Then Tommy darted forward +and was immediately lost in the crowd surging round the steps of the +hall. + +Several gentlemen in evening dress stood framed in the lighted doorway, +shouting: "Have your tickets in your hands and give them up as you pass +in." They were fine fellows, helping in a splendid work, and their +society did much good, though it was not so well organized as others +that have followed in its steps; but Shovel, you may believe, was in no +mood to attend to them. He had but one thought: that the traitor Tommy +was doubtless at that moment boring his way toward them, underground, +as it were, and "holding his ticket in his hand." Shovel dived into the +rabble and was flung back upside down. Falling with his arms round a +full-grown man, he immediately ran up him as if he had been a lamp-post, +and was aloft just sufficiently long to see Tommy give up the ticket and +saunter into the hall. + +The crowd tried at intervals to rush the door. It was mainly composed of +ragged boys, but here and there were men, women, and girls, who came +into view for a moment under the lights as the mob heaved and went round +and round like a boiling potful. Two policemen joined the +ticket-collectors, and though it was a good-humored gathering, the air +was thick with such cries as these: + +"I lorst my ticket, ain't I telling yer? Gar on, guv'nor, lemme in!" + +"Oh, crumpets, look at Jimmy! Jimmy never done nothink, your honor; +he's a himposter"' + +"I'm the boy what kicked the peeler. Hie, you toff with the choker, +ain't I to step up?" + +"Tell yer, I'm a genooine criminal, I am. If yer don't lemme in I'll +have the lawr on you." + +"Let a poor cove in as his father drownded hisself for his country." + +"What air yer torking about? Warn't I in larst year, and the cuss as +runs the show, he says to me, 'Allers welcome,' he says. None on your +sarse, Bobby. I demands to see the cuss what runs--" + +"Jest keeping on me out 'cos I ain't done nothin'. Ho, this is a +encouragement to honesty, I don't think." + +Mighty in tongue and knee and elbow was an unknown knight, ever +conspicuous; it might be but by a leg waving for one brief moment in the +air. He did not want to go in, would not go in though they went on their +blooming knees to him; he was after a viper of the name of Tommy. Half +an hour had not tired him, and he was leading another assault, when a +magnificent lady, such as you see in wax-works, appeared in the +vestibule and made some remark to a policeman, who then shouted: + +"If so there be hany lad here called Shovel, he can step forrard." + +A dozen lads stepped forward at once, but a flail drove them right and +left, and the unknown knight had mounted the parapet amid a shower of +execrations. "If you are the real Shovel," the lady said to him, "you +can tell me how this proceeds, 'I love my dear father and my dear +mother--' Go on." + +Shovel obeyed, tremblingly. "And all the dear little kids at 'ome. You +are a kind laidy or gentleman. I love yer. I will never do it again, so +help me bob. Amen." + +"Charming!" chirped the lady, and down pleasant-smelling aisles she led +him, pausing to drop an observation about Tommy to a clergyman: "So glad +I came; I have discovered the most delightful little monster called +Tommy." The clergyman looked after her half in sadness, half +sarcastically; he was thinking that he had discovered a monster also. + +At present the body of the hall was empty, but its sides were lively +with gorging boys, among whom ladies moved, carrying platefuls of good +things. Most of them were sweet women, fighting bravely for these boys, +and not at all like Shovel's patroness, who had come for a sensation. +Tommy falling into her hands, she got it. + +Tommy, who had a corner to himself, was lolling in it like a little +king, and he not only ordered roast-beef for the awe-struck Shovel, but +sent the lady back for salt. Then he whispered, exultantly: "Quick, +Shovel, feel my pocket" (it bulged with two oranges), "now the inside +pocket" (plum-duff), "now my waistcoat pocket" (threepence); "look in my +mouth" (chocolates). + +When Shovel found speech he began excitedly: "I love my dear father and +my dear--" + +"Gach!" said Tommy, interrupting him contemptuously. "Repenting ain't no +go, Shovel. Look at them other coves; none of them has got no money, nor +full pockets, and I tell you, it's 'cos they has repented." + +"Gar on!" + +"It's true, I tells you. That lady as is my one, she's called her +ladyship, and she don't care a cuss for boys as has repented," which of +course was a libel, her ladyship being celebrated wherever paragraphs +penetrate for having knitted a pair of stockings for the deserving poor. + +"When I saw that," Tommy continued, brazenly, "I bragged 'stead of +repenting, and the wuss I says I am, she jest says, 'You little +monster,' and gives me another orange." + +"Then I'm done for," Shovel moaned, "for I rolled off that 'bout loving +my dear father and my dear mother, blast 'em, soon as I seen her." + +He need not let that depress him. Tommy had told her he would say it, +but that it was all flam. + +Shovel thought the ideal arrangement would be for him to eat and leave +the torking to Tommy. Tommy nodded. "I'm full, at any rate," he said, +struggling with his waistcoat. "Oh, Shovel, I _am_ full!" + +Her ladyship returned, and the boys held by their contract, but of the +dark character Tommy seems to have been, let not these pages bear the +record. Do you wonder that her ladyship believed him? On this point we +must fight for our Tommy. You would have believed him. Even Shovel, who +knew, between the bites, that it was all whoppers, listened as to his +father reading aloud. This was because another boy present half believed +it for the moment also. When he described the eerie darkness of the +butler's pantry, he shivered involuntarily, and he shut his eyes +once--ugh!--that was because he saw the blood spouting out of the +butler. He was turning up his trousers to show the mark of the butler's +boot on his leg when the lady was called away, and then Shovel shook +him, saying: "Darn yer, doesn't yer know as it's all your eye?" which +brought Tommy to his senses with a jerk. + +"Sure's death, Shovel," he whispered, in awe, "I was thinking I done it, +every bit!" + +Had her ladyship come back she would have found him a different boy. He +remembered now that Elspeth, for whom he had filled his pockets, was +praying for him; he could see her on her knees, saying, "Oh, God, I'se +praying for Tommy," and remorse took hold of him and shook him on his +seat. He broke into one hysterical laugh and then immediately began to +sob. This was the moment when Shovel should have got him quietly out of +the hall. + +Members of the society discussing him afterwards with bated breath said +that never till they died could they forget her ladyship's face while he +did it. "But did you notice the boy's own face? It was positively +angelic." "Angelic, indeed; the little horror was intoxicated." No, +there was a doctor present, and according to him it was the meal that +had gone to the boy's head; he looked half starved. As for the +clergyman, he only said: "We shall lose her subscription; I am glad of +it." + +Yes, Tommy was intoxicated, but with a beverage not recognized by the +faculty. What happened was this: Supper being finished, the time had +come for what Shovel called the jawing, and the boys were now mustered +in the body of the hall. The limited audience had gone to the gallery, +and unluckily all eyes except Shovel's were turned to the platform. +Shovel was apprehensive about Tommy, who was not exactly sobbing now; +but strange, uncontrollable sounds not unlike the winding up of a clock +proceeded from his throat; his face had flushed; there was a purposeful +look in his usually unreadable eye; his fingers were fidgeting on the +board in front of him, and he seemed to keep his seat with difficulty. + +The personage who was to address the boys sat on the platform with +clergymen, members of committee, and some ladies, one of them Tommy's +patroness. Her ladyship saw Tommy and smiled to him, but obtained no +response. She had taken a front seat, a choice that she must have +regretted presently. + +The chairman rose and announced that the. Rev. Mr. ----would open the +proceedings with prayer. The Rev. Mr. ---- rose to pray in a loud voice +for the waifs in the body of the hall. At the same moment rose Tommy, +and began to pray in a squeaky voice for the people on the platform. + +He had many Biblical phrases, mostly picked up in Thrums Street, and +what he said was distinctly heard in the stillness, the clergyman being +suddenly bereft of speech. "Oh," he cried, "look down on them ones +there, for, oh, they are unworthy of Thy mercy, and, oh, the worst +sinner is her ladyship, her sitting there so brazen in the black frock +with yellow stripes, and the worse I said I were the better pleased were +she. Oh, make her think shame for tempting of a poor boy, for getting +suffer little children, oh, why cumbereth she the ground, oh--" + +He was in full swing before any one could act. Shovel having failed to +hold him in his seat, had done what was perhaps the next best thing, got +beneath it himself. The arm of the petrified clergyman was still +extended, as if blessing his brother's remarks; the chairman seemed to +be trying to fling his right hand at the culprit; but her ladyship, +after the first stab, never moved a muscle. Thus for nearly half a +minute, when the officials woke up, and squeezing past many knees, +seized Tommy by the neck and ran him out of the building. All down the +aisle he prayed hysterically, and for some time afterwards, to Shovel, +who had been cast forth along with him. + +At an hour of that night when their mother was asleep, and it is to be +hoped they were the only two children awake in London, Tommy sat up +softly in the wardrobe to discover whether Elspeth was still praying for +him. He knew that she was on the floor in a night-gown some twelve sizes +too large for her, but the room was as silent and black as the world he +had just left by taking his fingers from his ears and the blankets off +his face. + +"I see you," he said mendaciously, and in a guarded voice, so as not to +waken his mother, from whom he had kept his escapade. This had not the +desired effect of drawing a reply from Elspeth, and he tried bluster. + +"You needna think as I'll repent, you brat, so there! What? + +"I wish I hadna told you about it!" Indeed, he had endeavored not to do +so, but pride in his achievement had eventually conquered prudence. + +"Reddy would have laughed, she would, and said as I was a wonder. Reddy +was the kind I like. What? + +"You ate up the oranges quick, and the plum-duff too, so you should pray +for yoursel' as well as for me. It's easy to say as you didna know how I +got them till after you eated them, but you should have found out. What? + +"Do you think it was for my own self as I done it? I jest done it to get +the oranges and plum-duff to you, I did, and the threepence too. Eh? +Speak, you little besom. + +"I tell you as I did repent in the hall. I was greeting, and I never +knowed I put up that prayer till Shovel told me on it. We was sitting in +the street by that time." + +This was true. On leaving the hall Tommy had soon dropped to the cold +ground and squatted there till he came to, when he remembered nothing of +what had led to his expulsion. Like a stream that has run into a pond +and only finds itself again when it gets out, he was but a continuation +of the boy who when last conscious of himself was in the corner crying +remorsefully over his misdeed; and in this humility he would have +returned to Elspeth had no one told him of his prayer. Shovel, however, +was at hand, not only to tell him all about it, but to applaud, and home +strutted Tommy chuckling. + +"I am sleeping," he next said to Elspeth, "so you may as well come to +your bed." + +He imitated the breathing of a sleeper, but it was the only sound to be +heard in London, and he desisted fearfully. "Come away, Elspeth," he +said, coaxingly, for he was very fond of her and could not sleep while +she was cold and miserable. + +Still getting no response he pulled his body inch by inch out of the +bed-clothes, and holding his breath, found the floor with his feet +stealthily, as if to cheat the wardrobe into thinking that he was still +in it. But his reason was to discover whether Elspeth had fallen asleep +on her knees without her learning that he cared to know. Almost +noiselessly he worked himself along the floor, but when he stopped to +bring his face nearer hers, there was such a creaking of his joints that +if Elspeth did not hear it she--she must be dead! His knees played whack +on the floor. + +Elspeth only gasped once, but he heard, and remained beside her for a +minute, so that she might hug him if such was her desire; and she put +out her hand in the darkness so that his should not have far to travel +alone if it chanced to be on the way to her. Thus they sat on their +knees, each aghast at the hard-heartedness of the other. + +Tommy put the blankets over the kneeling figure, and presently announced +from the wardrobe that if he died of cold before repenting the blame of +keeping him out of heaven would be Elspeth's. But the last word was +muffled, for the blankets were tucked about him as he spoke, and two +motherly little arms gave him the embrace they wanted to withhold. +Foiled again, he kicked off the bed-clothes and said: "I tell yer I wants +to die!" + +This terrified both of them, and he added, quickly: + +"Oh, God, if I was sure I were to die to-night I would repent at once." +It is the commonest prayer in all languages, but down on her knees +slipped Elspeth again, and Tommy, who felt that it had done him good, +said indignantly: "Surely that is religion. What?" + +He lay on his face until he was frightened by a noise louder than +thunder in the daytime--the scraping of his eyelashes on the pillow. +Then he sat up in the wardrobe and fired his three last shots. + +"Elspeth Sandys, I'm done with yer forever, I am. I'll take care on yer, +but I'll never kiss yer no more. + +"When yer boasts as I'm your brother I'll say you ain't. I'll tell my +mother about Reddy the morn, and syne she'll put you to the door smart. + +"When you are a grown woman I'll buy a house to yer, but you'll have +jest to bide in it by your lonely self, and I'll come once a year to +speir how you are, but I won't come in, I won't--I'll jest cry up the +stair." + +The effect of this was even greater than he had expected, for now two +were in tears instead of one, and Tommy's grief was the more +heartrending, he was so much better at everything than Elspeth. He +jumped out of the wardrobe and ran to her, calling her name, and he put +his arms round her cold body, and the dear mite, forgetting how cruelly +he had used her, cried, "Oh, tighter, Tommy, tighter; you didn't not +mean it, did yer? Oh, you is terrible fond on me, ain't yer? And you +won't not tell my mother 'bout Reddy, will yer, and you is no done wi' +me forever, is yer? and you won't not put me in a house by myself, will +yer? Oh, Tommy, is that the tightest you can do?" + +And Tommy made it tighter, vowing, "I never meant it; I was a bad un to +say it. If Reddy were to come back wanting for to squeeze you out, I +would send her packing quick, I would. I tell yer what, I'll kiss you +with folk looking on, I will, and no be ashamed to do it, and if Shovel +is one of them what sees me, and he puts his finger to his nose, I'll +blood the mouth of him, I will, dagont!" + +Then he prayed for forgiveness, and he could always pray more +beautifully than Elspeth. Even she was satisfied with the way he did it, +and so, alack, was he. + +"But you forgot to tell," she said fondly, when once more they were in +the wardrobe together--"you forgot to tell as you filled your pockets +wif things to me." + +"I didn't forget," Tommy replied modestly. "I missed it out, on purpose, +I did, 'cos I was sure God knows on it without my telling him, and I +thought he would be pleased if I didn't let on as I knowed it was good +of me." + +"Oh, Tommy," cried Elspeth, worshipping him, "I couldn't have doned +that, I couldn't!" She was barely six, and easily taken in, but she +would save him from himself if she could. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +AULD LANG SYNE + + +What to do with her ladyship's threepence? Tommy finally decided to drop +it into the charity-box that had once contained his penny. They held it +over the slit together, Elspeth almost in tears because it was such a +large sum to give away, but Tommy looking noble he was so proud of +himself; and when he said "Three!" they let go. + +There followed days of excitement centred round their money-box. Shovel +introduced Tommy to a boy what said as after a bit you forget how much +money was in your box, and then when you opened it, oh, Lor'! there is +more than you thought, so he and Elspeth gave this plan a week's trial, +affecting not to know how much they had gathered, but when they unlocked +it, the sum was still only eightpence; so then Tommy told the liar to +come on, and they fought while the horrified Elspeth prayed, and Tommy +licked him, a result due to one of the famous Thrums left-handers then +on exhibition in that street for the first time, as taught the victor by +Petey Whamond the younger, late of Tillyloss. + +The money did come in, once in spate (twopence from Bob in twenty-four +hours), but usually so slowly that they saw it resting on the way, and +then, when they listened intently, they could hear the thud of Hogmanay. +The last halfpenny was a special aggravation, strolling about, just out +of reach, with all the swagger of sixpence, but at last Elspeth had it, +and after that, the sooner Hogmanay came the better. + +They concealed their excitement under too many wrappings, but their +mother suspected nothing. When she was dressing on the morning of +Hogmanay, her stockings happened to be at the other side of the room, +and they were such a long way off that she rested on the way to them. At +the meagre breakfast she said what a heavy teapot that was, and Tommy +thought this funny, but the salt had gone from the joke when he +remembered it afterwards. And when she was ready to go off to her work +she hesitated at the door, looking at her bed and from it to her +children as if in two minds, and then went quietly downstairs. + +The distance seems greater than ever to-day, poor woman, and you stop +longer at the corners, where rude men jeer at you. Scarcely can you push +open the door of the dancing-school or lift the pail; the fire has gone +out, you must again go on your knees before it, and again the smoke +makes you cough. Gaunt slattern, fighting to bring up the phlegm, was it +really you for whom another woman gave her life, and thought it a rich +reward to get dressing you once in your long clothes, when she called +you her beautiful, and smiled, and smiling, died? Well, well; but take +courage, Jean Myles. The long road still lies straight up hill, but your +climbing is near an end. Shrink from the rude men no more, they are soon +to forget you, so soon! It is a heavy door, but soon you will have +pushed it open for the last time. The girls will babble still, but not +to you, not of you. Cheer up, the work is nearly done. Her beautiful! +Come, beautiful, strength for a few more days, and then you can leave +the key of the leaden door behind you, and on your way home you may kiss +your hand joyously to the weary streets, for you are going to die. + +Tommy and Elspeth had been to the foot of the stair many times to look +for her before their mother came back that evening, yet when she +re-entered her home, behold, they were sitting calmly on the fender as +if this were a day like yesterday or to-morrow, as if Tommy had not been +on a business visit to Thrums Street, as if the hump on the bed did not +mean that a glorious something was hidden under the coverlet. True, +Elspeth would look at Tommy imploringly every few minutes, meaning that +she could not keep it in much longer, and then Tommy would mutter the +one word "Bell" to remind her that it was against the rules to begin +before the Thrums eight-o'clock bell rang. They also wiled away the time +of waiting by inviting each other to conferences at the window where +these whispers passed-- + +"She ain't got a notion, Tommy." + +"Dinna look so often at the bed." + +"If I could jest get one more peep at it!" + +"No, no; but you can put your hand on the top of it as you go by." + +The artfulness of Tommy lured his unsuspecting mother into telling how +they would be holding Hogmanay in Thrums to-night, how cartloads of +kebbock cheeses had been rolling into the town all the livelong day ("Do +you hear them, Elspeth?"), and in dark closes the children were already +gathering, with smeared faces and in eccentric dress, to sally forth as +guisers at the clap of eight, when the ringing of a bell lets Hogmanay +loose. ("You see, Elspeth?") Inside the houses men and women were +preparing (though not by fasting, which would have been such a good way +that it is surprising no one ever thought of it) for a series of visits, +at every one of which they would be offered a dram and kebbock and +bannock, and in the grander houses "bridies," which are a sublime kind +of pie. + +Tommy had the audacity to ask what bridies were like. And he could not +dress up and be a guiser, could he, mother, for the guisers sang a song, +and he did not know the words? What a pity they could not get bridies to +buy in London, and learn the song and sing it. But of course they could +not! ("Elspeth, if you tumble off the fender again, she'll guess.") + +Such is a sample of Tommy, but Elspeth was sly also, if in a smaller +way, and it was she who said: "There ain't nothin' in the bed, is there, +Tommy!" This duplicity made her uneasy, and she added, behind her teeth, +"Maybe there is," and then, "O God, I knows as there is." + +But as the great moment drew near there were no more questions; two +children were staring at the clock and listening intently for the peal +of a bell nearly five hundred miles away. + +The clock struck. "Whisht! It's time, Elspeth! They've begun! Come on!" + +A few minutes afterwards Mrs. Sandys was roused by a knock at the door, +followed by the entrance of two mysterious figures. The female wore a +boy's jacket turned outside in, the male a woman's bonnet and a shawl, +and to make his disguise the more impenetrable he carried a poker in his +right hand. They stopped in the middle of the floor and began to recite, +rather tremulously, + +Get up, good wife, and binna sweir, +And deal your bread to them that's here. +For the time will come when you'll be dead, +And then you'll need neither ale nor bread. + +Mrs. Sandys had started, and then turned piteously from them; but when +they were done she tried to smile, and said, with forced gayety, that +she saw they were guisers, and it was a fine night, and would they take +a chair. The male stranger did so at once, but the female said, rather +anxiously: "You are sure as you don't know who we is?" Their hostess +shook her head, and then he of the poker offered her three guesses, a +daring thing to do, but all went well, for her first guess was Shovel +and his old girl; second guess, Before and After; third guess, Napoleon +Buonaparte and the Auld Licht minister. At each guess the smaller of the +intruders clapped her hands gleefully, but when, with the third, she was +unmuzzled, she putted with her head at Mrs. Sandys and hugged her, +screaming, "It ain't none on them; it's jest me, mother, it's Elspeth!" +and even while their astounded hostess was asking could it be true, the +male conspirator dropped his poker noisily (to draw attention to +himself) and stood revealed as Thomas Sandys. + +Wasn't it just like Thrums, wasn't it just the very, very same? Ah, it +was wonderful, their mother said, but, alas, there was one thing +wanting: she had no Hogmanay to give the guisers. + +Had she not? What a pity, Elspeth! What a pity, Tommy! What might that +be in the bed, Elspeth? It couldn't not be their Hogmanay, could it, +Tommy? If Tommy was his mother he would look and see. If Elspeth was her +mother she would look and see. + +Her curiosity thus cunningly aroused, Mrs. Sandys raised the coverlet +of the bed and--there were three bridies, an oatmeal cake, and a hunk of +kebbock. "And they comed from Thrums!" cried Elspeth, while Tommy cried, +"Petey and the others got a lot sent from Thrums, and I bought the +bridies from them, and they gave me the bannock and the kebbock for +nuthin'!" Their mother did not utter the cry of rapture which Tommy +expected so confidently that he could have done it for her; instead, she +pulled her two children toward her, and the great moment was like to be +a tearful rather than an ecstatic one, for Elspeth had begun to whimper, +and even Tommy--but by a supreme effort he shouldered reality to the +door. + +"Is this my Hogmanay, guidwife?" he asked in the nick of time, and the +situation thus being saved, the luscious feast was partaken of, the +guisers listening solemnly as each bite went down. They also took care +to address their hostess as "guidwife" or "mistress," affecting not to +have met her lately, and inquiring genially after the health of herself +and family. "How many have you?" was Tommy's masterpiece, and she +answered in the proper spirit, but all the time she was hiding great +part of her bridie beneath her apron, Hogmanay having come too late for +her. + +Everything was to be done exactly as they were doing it in Thrums +Street, and so presently Tommy made a speech; it was the speech of old +Petey, who had rehearsed it several times before him. "Here's a toast," +said Tommy, standing up and waving his arms, "here's a toast that we'll +drink in silence, one that maun have sad thoughts at the back o't to +some of us, but one, my friends, that keeps the hearts of Thrums folk +green and ties us all thegither, like as it were wi' twine. It's to all +them, wherever they may be the night, wha' have sat as lads and lasses +at the Cuttle Well." + +To one of the listeners it was such an unexpected ending that a faint +cry broke from her, which startled the children, and they sat in silence +looking at her. She had turned her face from them, but her arm was +extended as if entreating Tommy to stop. + +"That was the end," he said, at length, in a tone of expostulation; +"it's auld Petey's speech." + +"Are you sure," his mother asked wistfully, "that Petey was to say _all_ +them as have sat at the Cuttle Well? He made no exception, did he?" + +Tommy did not know what exception was, but he assured her that he had +repeated the speech, word for word. For the remainder of the evening she +sat apart by the fire, while her children gambled for crack-nuts, young +Petey having made a teetotum for Tommy and taught him what the letters +on it meant. Their mirth rang faintly in her ear, and they scarcely +heard her fits of coughing; she was as much engrossed in her own +thoughts as they in theirs, but hers were sad and theirs were +jocund--Hogmanay, like all festivals, being but a bank from which we +can only draw what we put in. So an hour or more passed, after which +Tommy whispered to Elspeth: "Now's the time; they're at it now," and +each took a hand of their mother, and she woke from her reverie to find +that they had pulled her from her chair and were jumping up and down, +shouting, excitedly, "For Auld Lang Syne, my dear, for Auld Lang Syne, +Auld Lang Syne, my dear, Auld Lang Syne." She tried to sing the words +with her children, tried to dance round with them, tried to smile, but-- + +It was Tommy who dropped her hand first. "Mother," he cried, "your face +is wet, you're greeting sair, and you said you had forgot the way." + +"I mind it now, man, I mind it now," she said, standing helplessly in +the middle of the room. + +Elspeth nestled against her, crying, "My mother was thinking about +Thrums, wasn't she, Tommy?" + +"I was thinking about the part o't I'm most awid to be in," the poor +woman said, sinking back into her chair. + +"It's the Den," Tommy told Elspeth. + +"It's the Square," Elspeth told Tommy. + +"No, it's Monypenny." + +"No, it's the Commonty." + +But it was none of these places. "It's the cemetery," the woman said, +"it's the hamely, quiet cemetery on the hillside. Oh, there's mony a +bonny place in my nain bonny toon, but there's nain so hamely like as +the cemetery." She sat shaking in the chair, and they thought she was to +say no more, but presently she rose excitedly, and with a vehemence that +made them shrink from her she cried: "I winna lie in London! tell Aaron +Latta that; I winna lie in London!" + +For a few more days she trudged to her work, and after that she seldom +left her bed. She had no longer strength to coax up the phlegm, and a +doctor brought in by Shovel's mother warned her that her days were near +an end. Then she wrote her last letter to Thrums, Tommy and Elspeth +standing by to pick up the pen when it fell from her feeble hand, and in +the intervals she told them that she was Jean Myles. + +"And if I die and Aaron hasna come," she said, "you maun just gang to +auld Petey and tell him wha you are." + +"But how can you be Jean Myles?" asked astounded Tommy. "You ain't a +grand lady and--" + +His mother looked at Elspeth. "No' afore her," she besought him; but +before he set off to post the letter she said: "Come canny into my bed +the night, when Elspeth 's sleeping, and syne I'll tell you all there is +to tell about Jean Myles." + +"Tell me now whether the letter is to Aaron Latta?" + +"It's for him," she said, "but it's no' to him. I'm feared he might burn +it without opening it if he saw my write on the cover, so I've wrote it +to a friend of his wha will read it to him." + +"And what's inside, mother?" the boy begged, inquisitively. "It must be +queer things if they'll bring Aaron Latta all the way from Thrums." + +"There's but little in it, man," she said, pressing her hand hard upon +her chest. "It's no muckle mair than 'Auld Lang Syne, my dear, for Auld +Lang Syne.'" + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE FAVORITE OF THE LADIES + + +That night the excited boy was wakened by a tap-tap, as of someone +knocking for admittance, and stealing to his mother's side, he cried, +"Aaron Latta has come; hearken to him chapping at the door!" + +It was only the man through the wall, but Mrs. Sandys took Tommy into +bed with her, and while Elspeth slept, told him the story of her life. +She coughed feebly now, but the panting of the dying is a sound that no +walls can cage, and the man continued to remonstrate at intervals. Tommy +never recalled his mother's story without seeming, through the darkness +in which it was told, to hear Elspeth's peaceful breathing and the angry +tap-tap on the wall. + +"I'm sweer to tell it to you," she began, "but tell I maun, for though +it's just a warning to you and Elspeth no' to be like them that brought +you into the world, it's all I have to leave you. Ay, and there's +another reason: you may soon be among folk wha ken but half the story +and put a waur face on it than I deserve." + +She had spoken calmly, but her next words were passionate. + +"They thought I was fond o'him," she cried; "oh, they were blind, +blind! Frae the first I could never thole the sight o' him. + +"Maybe that's no' true," she had to add. "I aye kent he was a black, but +yet I couldna put him out o' my head; he took sudden grips o' me like an +evil thought. I aye ran frae him, and yet I sair doubt that I went +looking for him too." + +"Was it Aaron Latta?" Tommy asked. + +"No, it was your father. The first I ever saw of him was at Cullew, four +lang miles frae Thrums. There was a ball after the market, and Esther +Auld and me went to it. We went in a cart, and I was wearing a pink +print, wi' a white bonnet, and blue ribbons that tied aneath the chin. I +had a shawl abune, no' to file them. There wasna a more innocent lassie +in Thrums, man, no, nor a happier one; for Aaron Latta--Aaron came half +the way wi' us, and he was hauding my hand aneath the shawl. He hadna +speired me at that time, but I just kent. + +"It was an auld custom to choose a queen of beauty at the ball, but that +night the men couldna 'gree wha should be judge, and in the tail-end +they went out thegither to look for one, determined to mak' judge o' the +first man they met, though they should have to tear him off a horse and +bring him in by force. You wouldna believe to look at me now, man, that +I could have had any thait o' being made queen, but I was fell bonny, +and I was as keen as the rest. How simple we were, all pretending to +one another that we didna want to be chosen! Esther Auld said she would +hod ahint the tent till a queen was picked, and at the very time she +said it, she was in a palsy, through no being able to decide whether she +looked better in her shell necklace or wanting it. She put it on in the +end, and syne when we heard the tramp o' the men, her mind misgave her, +and she cried: 'For the love o' mercy, keep them out till I get it off +again!' So we were a' laughing when they came in. + +"Laddie, it was your father and Elspeth's that they brought wi' them, +and he was a stranger to us, though we kent something about him afore +the night was out. He was finely put on, wi' a gold chain, and a free +w'y of looking at women, and if you mind o' him ava, you ken that he was +fair and buirdly, wi' a full face, and aye a laugh ahint it. I tell ye, +man, that when our een met, and I saw that triumphing laugh ahint his +face, I took a fear of him, as if I had guessed the end. + +"For years and years after that night I dreamed it ower again, and aye I +heard mysel' crying to God to keep that man awa' frae me. But I doubt I +put up no sic prayer at the time; his masterful look fleid me, and yet +it drew me against my will, and I was trembling wi' pride as well as +fear when he made me queen. We danced thegither and fought thegither a' +through the ball, and my will was no match for his, and the worst o't +was I had a kind o' secret pleasure in being mastered. + +"Man, he kissed me. Lads had kissed me afore that night, but never since +first I went wi' Aaron Latta to the Cuttle Well. Aaron hadna done it, +but I was never to let none do it again except him. So when your father +did it I struck him, but ahint the redness that came ower his face, I +saw his triumphing laugh, and he whispered that he liked me for the +blow. He said, 'I prefer the sweer anes, and the more you struggle, my +beauty, the better pleased I'll be.' Almost his hinmost words to me was, +'I've been hearing of your Aaron, and that pleases me too!' I fired up +at that and telled him what I thought of him, but he said, 'If you canna +abide me, what made you dance wi' me so often?' and, oh, laddie, that's +a question that has sung in my head since syne. + +"I've telled you that we found out wha he was, and 'deed he made no +secret of it. Up to the time he was twal year auld he had been a kent +face in that part, for his mither was a Cullew woman called Mag Sandys, +ay, and a single woman. She was a hard ane too, for when he was twelve +year auld he flung out o' the house saying he would ne'er come back, and +she said he shouldna run awa' wi' thae new boots on, so she took the +boots off him and let him go. + +"He was a grown man when more was heard o' him, and syne stories came +saying he was at Redlintie, playing queer games wi' his father. His +father was gauger there, that's exciseman, a Mr. Cray, wha got his wife +out o' Thrums, and even when he was courting her (so they say) had the +heart to be ower chief wi' this other woman. Weel, Magerful Tam, as he +was called through being so masterful, cast up at Redlintie frae none +kent where, gey desperate for siller, but wi' a black coat on his back, +and he said that all he wanted was to be owned as the gauger's son. Mr. +Cray said there was no proof that he was his son, and syne the queer +sport began. Your father had noticed he was like Mr. Cray, except in the +beard, and so he had his beard clippit the same, and he got hand o' some +weel-kent claethes o' the gauger's that had been presented to a poor +body, and he learned up a' the gauger's tricks of speech and walking, +especially a droll w'y he had o' taking snuff and syne flinging back his +head. They were as like as buckies after that, and soon there was a town +about it, for one day ladies would find that they had been bowing to the +son thinking he was the father, and the next they wouldna speak to the +father, mistaking him for the son; and a report spread to the head +office o' the excise that the gauger of Redlintie spent his evenings at +a public house, singing 'The De'il's awa' wi' the Exciseman.' Tam drank +nows and nans, and it ga'e Mr. Cray a turn to see him come rolling yont +the street, just as if it was himsel' in a looking-glass. He was a +sedate-living man now, but chiefly because his wife kept him in good +control, and this sight brought back auld times so vive to him, that he +a kind of mistook which ane he was, and took to dropping, +forgetful-like, into public-houses again. It was high time Tam should be +got out of the place, and they did manage to bribe him into leaving, +though no easily, for it had been fine sport to him, and to make a +sensation was what he valued above all things. We heard that he went +back to Redlintie a curran years after, but both the gauger and his wife +were dead, and I ken that he didna trouble the twa daughters. They were +Miss Ailie and Miss Kitty, and as they werena left as well off as was +expected they came to Thrums, which had been their mother's town, and +started a school for the gentry there. I dinna doubt but what it's the +school that Esther Auld's laddie is at. + +"So after being long lost sight o' he turned up at Cullew, wi' what +looked to simple folk a fortune in his pouches, and half a dozen untrue +stories about how he made it. He had come to make a show o' himsel' +afore his mither, and I dare say to give her some gold, for he was aye +ready to give when he had, I'll say that for him; but she had flitted to +some unkent place, and so he bade on some weeks at the Cullew public. He +caredna whether the folk praised or blamed him so long as they wondered +at him, and queer stories about his doings was aye on the road to +Thrums. One was that he gave wild suppers to whaever would come; another +that he went to the kirk just for the glory of flinging a sovereign +into the plate wi' a clatter; another that when he lay sleeping on twa +chairs, gold and silver dribbled out o' his trouser pouches to the +floor. + +"There was an ugly story too, about a lassie, that led to his leaving +the place and coming to Thrums, after he had near killed the Cullew +smith, in a fight. The first I heard o' his being in Thrums was when +Aaron Latta walked into my granny's house and said there was a strange +man at the Tappit Hen public standing drink to any that would tak', and +boasting that he had but to waggle his finger to make me give Aaron up. +I went wi' Aaron and looked in at the window, but I kent wha it was +afore I looked. If Aaron had just gone in and struck him! All decent +women, laddie, has a horror of being fought about. I'm no sure but what +that's just the difference atween guid ones and ill ones, but this man +had a power ower me; and if Aaron had just struck him! Instead o' +meddling he turned white, and I couldna help contrasting them, and +thinking how masterful your father looked. Fine I kent he was a brute, +and yet I couldna help admiring him for looking so magerful. + +"He bade on at the Tappit Hen, flinging his siller about in the way that +made him a king at Cullew, but no molesting Miss Ailie and Miss Kitty, +which all but me thought was what he had come to Thrums to do. Aaron and +me was cried for the first time the Sabbath after he came, and the next +Sabbath for the second time, but afore that he was aye getting in my +road and speaking to me, but I ran frae him and hod frae him when I +could, and he said the reason I did that was because I kent his will was +stronger than mine. He was aye saying things that made me think he saw +down to the bottom o' my soul; what I didna understand was that in +mastering other women he had been learning to master me. Ay, but though +I thought ower muckle about him, never did I speak him fair. I loo'ed +Aaron wi' all my heart, and your father kent it; and that, I doubt, was +what made him so keen, for, oh, but he was vain! + +"And now we've come to the night I'm so sweer to speak about. She was a +good happy lassie that went into the Den that moonlight night wi' +Aaron's arm round her, but it was another woman that came out. We +thought we had the Den to oursel's, and as we sat on the Shoaging Stane +at the Cuttle Well, Aaron wrote wi' a stick on the ground 'Jean Latta,' +and prigged wi' me to look at it, but I spread my hands ower my face, +and he didna ken that I was keeking at it through my fingers all the +time. We was so ta'en up with oursel's that we saw nobody coming, and +all at once there was your father by the side o' us! 'You've written the +wrong name, Aaron,' he said, jeering and pointing with his foot at the +letters; 'it should be Jean Sandys.' + +"Aaron said not a word, but I had a presentiment of ill, and I cried, +'Dinna let him change the name, Aaron!' Your father had been to change +it himsel', but at that he had a new thait, and he said, 'No, I'll no' +do it; your brave Aaron shall do it for me.' + +"Laddie, it doesna do for a man to be a coward afore a woman that's fond +o' him. A woman will thole a man's being anything except like hersel'. +When I was sure Aaron was a coward I stood still as death, waiting to +ken wha's I was to be. + +"Aaron did it. He was loath, but your father crushed him to the ground, +and said do it he should, and warned him too that if he did it he would +lose me, bantering him and cowing him and advising him no' to shame me, +all in a breath. He kent so weel, you see, what was in my mind, and aye +there was that triumphing laugh ahint his face. If Aaron had fought and +been beaten, even if he had just lain there and let the man strike away, +if he had done anything except what he was bidden, he would have won, +for it would have broken your father's power ower me. But to write the +word! It was like dishonoring me to save his ain skin, and your father +took good care he should ken it. You've heard me crying to Aaron in my +sleep, but it wasna for him I cried, it was for his fire-side. All the +love I had for him, and it was muckle, was skailed forever that night at +the Cuttle Well. Without a look ahint me away I went wi' my master, and +I had no more will to resist him--and oh, man, man, when I came to +mysel' next morning I wished I had never been born! + +"The men folk saw that Aaron had shamed them, and they werena quite so +set agin me as the women, wha had guessed the truth, though they couldna +be sure o't. Sair I pitied mysel', and sair I grat, but only when none +was looking. The mair they miscalled me the higher I held my head, and I +hung on your father's arm as if I adored him, and I boasted about his +office and his clerk in London till they believed what I didna believe a +word o' myself. + +"But though I put sic a brave face on't, I was near demented in case he +shouldna marry me, and he kent that and jokit me about it. Dinna think I +was fond o' him; I hated him now. And dinna think his masterfulness had +any more power ower me; his power was broken forever when I woke up that +weary morning. But that was ower late, and to wait on by mysel' in +Thrums for what might happen, and me a single woman--I daredna! So I +flattered at him, and flattered at him, till I got the fool side o' him, +and he married me. + +"My granny let the marriage take place in her house, and he sent in so +muckle meat and drink that some folk was willing to come. One came that +wasna wanted. In the middle o' the marriage Aaron Latta, wha had refused +to speak to anybody since that night, walked in wearing his blacks, wi' +crape on them, as if it was a funeral, and all he said was that he had +come to see Jean Myles coffined. He went away quietly as soon as we was +married, but the crowd outside had fathomed his meaning, and abune the +minister's words I could hear them crying, 'Ay, it's mair like a burial +than a marriage!' + +"My heart was near breaking wi' woe, but, oh, I was awid they shouldna +ken it, and the bravest thing I ever did was to sit through the supper +that night, making muckle o' your father, looking fond-like at him, +laughing at his coarse jokes, and secretly hating him down to my very +marrow a' the time. The crowd got word o' the ongoings, and they took a +cruel revenge. A carriage had been ordered for nine o'clock to take us +to Tilliedrum, where we should get the train to London, and when we +heard it, as we thought, drive up to the door, out we went, me on your +father's arm laughing, but wi' my teeth set. But Aaron's words had put +an idea into their heads, though he didna intend it, and they had got +out the hearse. It was the hearse they had brought to the door instead +of a carriage. + +"We got awa' in a carriage in the tail-end, and the stanes hitting it was +all the good luck flung after me. It had just one horse, and I mind how +I cried to Esther Auld, wha had been the first to throw, that when I +came back it would be in a carriage and pair. + +"Ay, I had pride! In the carriage your father telled me as a joke that +he had got away without paying the supper, and that about all the money +he had now, forby what was to pay our tickets to London, was the +half-sovereign on his watch-chain. But I was determined to have Thrums +think I had married grand, and as I had three pound six on me, the +savings o' all my days, I gave two pound of it to Malcolm Crabb, the +driver, unbeknown to your father, but pretending it was frae him, and +telled him to pay for the supper and the carriage with it. He said it +was far ower muckle, but I just laughed, and said wealthy gentlemen like +Mr. Sandys couldna be bothered to take back change, so Malcolm could +keep what was ower. Malcolm was the man Esther Auld had just married, +and I counted on this maddening her and on Malcolm's spreading the story +through the town. Laddie, I've kent since syne what it is to be without +bite or sup, but I've never grudged that siller." + +The poor woman had halted many times in her tale, and she was glad to +make an end. "You've forgotten what a life he led me in London," she +said, "and it could do you no good to hear it, though it might be a +lesson to thae lassies at the dancing-school wha think so much o' +masterful men. It was by betting at horseraces that your father made a +living, and whiles he was large o' siller, but that didna last, and I +question whether he would have stuck to me if I hadna got work. Well, +he's gone, and the Thrums folk'll soon ken the truth about Jean Myles +now." + +She paused, and then cried, with extraordinary vehemence: "Oh, man, how +I wish I could keep it frae them for ever and ever!" + +But presently she was calm again and she said: "What I've been telling +you, you can understand little o' the now, but some of it will come +back to you when you're a grown man, and if you're magerful and have +some lassie in your grip, maybe for the memory of her that bore you, +you'll let the poor thing awa'." + +And she asked him to add this to his nightly prayer: "O God, keep me +from being a magerful man!" and to teach this other prayer to Elspeth, +"O God, whatever is to be my fate, may I never be one of them that bow +the knee to magerful men, and if I was born like that and canna help it, +oh, take me up to heaven afore I'm fil't." + +The wardrobe was invisible in the darkness, but they could still hear +Elspeth's breathing as she slept, and the exhausted woman listened long +to it, as if she would fain carry away with her to the other world the +memory of that sweet sound. + +"If you gang to Thrums," she said at last, "you may hear my story frae +some that winna spare me in the telling; but should Elspeth be wi' you +at sic times, dinna answer back; just slip quietly away wi' her. She's +so young that she'll soon forget all about her life in London and all +about me, and that'll be best for her. I would like her lassiehood to be +bright and free frae cares, as if there had never been sic a woman as +me. But laddie, oh, my laddie, dinna you forget me; you and me had him +to thole thegither, dinna you forget me! Watch ower your little sister +by day and hap her by night, and when the time comes that a man wants +her--if he be magerful, tell her my story at once. But gin she loves +one that is her ain true love, dinna rub off the bloom, laddie, with a +word about me. Let her and him gang to the Cuttle Well, as Aaron and me +went, kenning no guile and thinking none, and with their arms round one +another's waists. But when her wedding-day comes round--" + +Her words broke in a sob and she cried: "I see them, I see them standing +up thegither afore the minister! Oh! you lad, you lad that's to be +married on my Elspeth, turn your face and let me see that you're no' a +magerful man!" + +But the lad did not turn his face, and when she spoke next it was to +Tommy. + +"In the bottom o' my kist there's a little silver teapot. It's no' real +silver, but it's fell bonny. I bought it for Elspeth twa or three months +back when I saw I couldna last the winter. I bought it to her for a +marriage present. She's no' to see it till her wedding-day comes round. +Syne you're to give it to her, man, and say it's with her mother's love. +Tell her all about me, for it canna harm her then. Tell her of the fool +lies I sent to Thrums, but dinna forget what a bonny place I thought it +all the time, nor how I stood on many a driech night at the corner of +that street, looking so waeful at the lighted windows, and hungering for +the wring of a Thrums hand or the sound of the Thrums word, and all the +time the shrewd blasts cutting through my thin trails of claithes. Tell +her, man, how you and me spent this night, and how I fought to keep my +hoast down so as no' to waken her. Mind that whatever I have been, I +was aye fond o' my bairns, and slaved for them till I dropped. She'll +have long forgotten what I was like, and it's just as well, but +yet--Look at me, Tommy, look long, long, so as you'll be able to call up +my face as it was on the far-back night when I telled you my mournful +story. Na, you canna see in the dark, but haud my hand, haud it tight, +so that, when you tell Elspeth, you'll mind how hot it was, and the skin +loose on it; and put your hand on my cheeks, man, and feel how wet they +are wi' sorrowful tears, and lay it on my breast, so that you can tell +her how I was shrunk awa'. And if she greets for her mother a whiley, +let her greet." + +The sobbing boy hugged his mother. "Do you think I'm an auld woman?" she +said to him. + +"You're gey auld, are you no'?" he answered. + +"Ay," she said, "I'm gey auld; I'm nine and twenty. I was seventeen on +the day when Aaron Latta went half-road in the cart wi' me to Cullew, +hauding my hand aneath my shawl. He hadna spiered me, but I just kent." + +Tommy remained in his mother's bed for the rest of the night, and so +many things were buzzing in his brain that not for an hour did he think +it time to repeat his new prayer. At last he said reverently: "O God, +keep me from being a magerful man!" Then he opened his eyes to let God +see that his prayer was ended, and added to himself: "But I think I +would fell like it." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +AARON LATTA + + +The Airlie post had dropped the letters for outlying farms at the +Monypenny smithy and trudged on. The smith having wiped his hand on his +hair, made a row of them, without looking at the addresses, on his +window-sill, where, happening to be seven in number, they were almost a +model of Monypenny, which is within hail of Thrums, but round the corner +from it, and so has ways of its own. With the next clang on the anvil +the middle letter fell flat, and now the likeness to Monypenny was +absolute. + +Again all the sound in the land was the melancholy sweet kink, kink, +kink of the smith's hammer. + +Across the road sat Dite Deuchars, the mole-catcher, a solitary figure, +taking his pleasure on the dyke. Behind him was the flour-miller's +field, and beyond it the Den, of which only some tree-tops were visible. +He looked wearily east the road, but no one emerged from Thrums; he +looked wearily west the road, which doubled out of sight at Aaron +Latta's cottage, little more than a stone's throw distant. On the inside +of Aaron's window an endless procession seemed to be passing, but it +was only the warping mill going round. It was an empty day, but Dite, +the accursed, was used to them; nothing ever happened where he was, but +many things as soon as he had gone. + +He yawned and looked at the houses opposite. They were all of one story; +the smith's had a rusty plough stowed away on its roof; under a window +stood a pew and bookboard, bought at the roup of an old church, and thus +transformed into a garden-seat. There were many of them in Thrums that +year. All the doors, except that of the smithy, were shut, until one of +them blew ajar, when Dite knew at once, from the smell which crossed the +road, that Blinder was in the bunk pulling the teeth of his potatoes. +May Ann Irons, the blind man's niece, came out at this door to beat the +cistern with a bass, and she gave Dite a wag of her head. He was to be +married to her if she could get nothing better. + +By and by the Painted Lady came along the road. She was a little woman, +brightly dressed, so fragile that a collie might have knocked her over +with his tail, and she had a beautiful white-and-pink face, the white +ending of a sudden in the middle of her neck, where it met skin of a +duller color. As she tripped along with mincing gait, she was speaking +confidentially to herself, but when she saw Dite grinning, she seemed, +first, afraid, and then sorry for herself, and then she tried to carry +it off with a giggle, cocking her head impudently at him. Even then she +looked childish, and a faded guilelessness, with many pretty airs and +graces, still lingered about her, like innocent birds loath to be gone +from the spot where their nest has been. When she had passed monotony +again reigned, and Dite crossed to the smithy window, though none of the +letters could be for him. He could read the addresses on six of them, +but the seventh lay on its back, and every time he rose on his tip-toes +to squint down at it, the spout pushed his bonnet over his eyes. + +"Smith," he cried in at the door, "to gang hame afore I ken wha that +letter's to is more than I can do." + +The smith good-naturedly brought the letter to him, and then glancing at +the address was dumfounded. "God behears," he exclaimed, with a sudden +look at the distant cemetery, "it's to Double Dykes!" + +Dite also shot a look at the cemetery. "He'll never get it," he said, +with mighty conviction. + +The two men gazed at the cemetery for some time, and at last Dite +muttered, "Ay, ay, Double Dykes, you was aye fond o' your joke!" + +"What has that to do wi' 't?" rapped out the smith, uncomfortably. + +Dite shuddered. "Man," he said, "does that letter no bring Double Dykes +back terrible vive again! If we was to see him climbing the cemetery +dyke the now, and coming stepping down the fields in his moleskin +waistcoat wi' the pearl buttons--" + +Auchterlonie stopped him with a nervous gesture. + +"But it couldna be the pearl buttons," Dite added thoughtfully, "for +Betty Finlayson has been wearing them to the kirk this four year. Ay, +ay, Double Dykes, that puts you farther awa' again." + +The smith took the letter to a neighbor's house to ask the advice of old +Irons, the blind tailor, who when he lost his sight had given himself +the name of Blinder for bairns to play with. + +"Make your mind easy, smith," was Blinder's counsel. "The letter is +meant for the Painted Lady. What's Double Dykes? It's but the name of a +farm, and we gave it to Sanders because he was the farmer. He's dead, +and them that's in the house now become Double Dykes in his place." + +But the Painted Lady only had the house, objected Dite; Nether Drumgley +was farming the land, and so he was the real Double Dykes. True, she +might have pretended to her friends that she had the land also. + +She had no friends, the smith said, and since she came to Double Dykes +from no one could find out where, though they knew her furniture was +bought in Tilliedrum, she had never got a letter. Often, though, as she +passed his window she had keeked sideways at the letters, as bairns +might look at parlys. If he made a tinkle with his hammer at such times +off she went at once, for she was as easily flichtered as a field of +crows, that take wing if you tap your pipe on the loof of your hand. It +was true she had spoken to him once; when he suddenly saw her standing +at his smiddy door, the surprise near made him fall over his brot. She +looked so neat and ladylike that he gave his hair a respectful pull +before he remembered the kind of woman she was. + +And what was it she said to him? Dite asked eagerly. + +She had pointed to the letters on the window-sill, and said she, "Oh, +the dear loves!" It was a queer say, but she had a bonny English word. +The English word was no doubt prideful, but it melted in the mouth like +a lick of sirup. She offered him sixpence for a letter, any letter he +liked, but of course he refused it. Then she prigged with him just to +let her hold one in her hands, for said she, bairnlike, "I used to get +one every day." It so happened that one of the letters was to Mysy +Bobbie; and Mysy was of so little importance that he thought there would +be no harm in letting the Painted Lady hold her letter, so he gave it to +her, and you should have seen her dawting it with her hand and holding +it to her breast like a lassie with a pigeon. "Isn't it sweet?" she +said, and before he could stop her she kissed it. She forgot it was no +letter of hers, and made to open it, and then she fell a-trembling and +saying she durst not read it, for you never knew whether the first words +might not break your heart. The envelope was red where her lips had +touched it, and yet she had an innocent look beneath the paint. When he +took the letter from her, though, she called him a low, vulgar fellow +for presuming to address a lady. She worked herself into a fury, and +said far worse than that; a perfect guller of clarty language came +pouring out of her. He had heard women curse many a time without turning +a hair, but he felt wae when she did it, for she just spoke it like a +bairn that had been in ill company. + +The smith's wife, Suphy, who had joined the company, thought that men +were easily taken in, especially smiths. She offered, however, to convey +the letter to Double Dykes. She was anxious to see the inside of the +Painted Lady's house, and this would be a good opportunity. She admitted +that she had crawled to the east window of it before now, but that dour +bairn of the Painted Lady's had seen her head and whipped down the +blind. + +Unfortunate Suphy! she could not try the window this time, as it was +broad daylight, and the Painted Lady took the letter from her at the +door. She returned crestfallen, and for an hour nothing happened. The +mole-catcher went off to the square, saying, despondently, that nothing +would happen until he was round the corner. No sooner had he rounded the +corner than something did happen. + +A girl who had left Double Dykes with a letter was walking quickly +toward Monypenny. She wore a white pinafore over a magenta frock, and no +one could tell her whether she was seven or eight, for she was only the +Painted Lady's child. Some boys, her natural enemies, were behind; they +had just emerged from the Den, and she heard them before they saw her, +and at once her little heart jumped and ran off with her. But the halloo +that told her she was discovered checked her running. Her teeth went +into her underlip; now her head was erect. After her came the rabble +with a rush, flinging stones that had no mark and epithets that hit. +Grizel disdained to look over her shoulder. Little hunted child, where +was succor to come from if she could not fight for herself? + +Though under the torture she would not cry out. "What's a father?" was +their favorite jeer, because she had once innocently asked this question +of a false friend. One tried to snatch the letter from her, but she +flashed him a look that sent him to the other side of the dyke, where, +he said, did she think he was afraid of her? Another strutted by her +side, mimicking her in such diverting manner that presently the others +had to pick him out of the ditch. Thus Grizel moved onward defiantly +until she reached Monypenny, where she tossed the letter in at the +smithy door and immediately returned home. It was the letter that had +been sent to her mother, now sent back, because it was meant for the +dead farmer after all. + +The smith read Jean Myles's last letter, with a face of growing gravity. +"Dear Double Dykes," it said, "I send you these few scrapes to say I am +dying, and you and Aaron Latta was seldom sindry, so I charge you to go +to him and say to him 'Aaron Latta, it's all lies Jean Myles wrote to +Thrums about her grandeur, and her man died mony year back, and it was +the only kindness he ever did her, and if she doesna die quick, her and +her starving bairns will be flung out into the streets.' If that doesna +move him, say, 'Aaron Latta, do you mind yon day at Inverquharity and +the cushie doos?' likewise, 'Aaron Latta, do you mind yon day at the +Kaims of Airlie?' likewise, 'Aaron Latta, do you mind that Jean Myles +was ower heavy for you to lift? Oh, Aaron, you could lift me so pitiful +easy now.' And syne says you solemnly three times, 'Aaron Latta, Jean +Myles is lying dying all alone in a foreign land; Aaron Latta, Jean +Myles is lying dying all alone in a foreign land; Aaron Latta, Jean +Myles is lying dying all alone in a foreign land.' And if he's sweer to +come, just say, 'Oh, Aaron, man, you micht; oh, Aaron, oh, Aaron, are +you coming?'" + +The smith had often denounced this woman, but he never said a word +against her again. He stood long reflecting, and then took the letter to +Blinder and read it to him. + +"She doesna say, 'Oh, Aaron Latta, do you mind the Cuttle Well?'" was +the blind man's first comment. + +"She was thinking about it," said Auchterlonie. + +"Ay, and he's thinking about it," said Blinder, "night and day, night +and day. What a town there'll be about that letter, smith!" + +"There will. But I'm to take it to Aaron afore the news spreads. He'll +never gang to London though." + +"I think he will, smith." + +"I ken him well." + +"Maybe I ken him better." + +"You canna see the ugly mark it left on his brow." + +"I can see the uglier marks it has left in his breast." + +"Well, I'll take the letter; I can do no more." + +When the smith opened the door of Aaron's house he let out a draught of +hot air that was glad to be gone from the warper's restless home. The +usual hallan, or passage, divided the but from the ben, and in the ben a +great revolving thing, the warping-mill, half filled the room. Between +it and a pile of webs that obscured the light a little silent man was +sitting on a box turning a handle. His shoulders were almost as high as +his ears, as if he had been caught forever in a storm, and though he was +barely five and thirty, he had the tattered, dishonored beard of black +and white that comes to none till the glory of life has gone. + +Suddenly the smith appeared round the webs. "Aaron," he said, awkwardly, +"do you mind Jean Myles?" + +The warper did not for a moment take his eyes off a contrivance with +pirns in it that was climbing up and down the whirring mill. + +"She's dead," he answered. + +"She's dying," said the smith. + +A thread broke, and Aaron had to rise to mend it. + +"Stop the mill and listen," Auchterlonie begged him, but the warper +returned to his seat and the mill again revolved. + +"This is her dying words to you," continued the smith. "Did you speak?" + +"I didna, but I wish you would take your arm off the haik." + +"She's loath to die without seeing you. Do you hear, man? You shall +listen to me, I tell you." + +"I am listening, smith," the warper replied, without rancour. "It's but +right that you should come here to take your pleasure on a shamed man." +His calmness gave him a kind of dignity. + +"Did I ever say you was a shamed man, Aaron?" + +"Am I not?" the warper asked quietly; and Auchterlonie hung his head. + +Aaron continued, still turning the handle, "You're truthful, and you +canna deny it. Nor will you deny that I shamed you and every other +mother's son that night. You try to hod it out o' pity, smith, but even +as you look at me now, does the man in you no rise up against me?" + +"If so," the smith answered reluctantly, "if so, it's against my will." + +"It is so," said Aaron, in the same measured voice, "and it's right +that it should be so. A man may thieve or debauch or murder, and yet no +be so very different frae his fellow-men, but there's one thing he shall +not do without their wanting to spit him out o' their mouths, and that +is, violate the feelings of sex." + +The strange words in which the warper described his fall had always an +uncomfortable effect on those who heard him use them, and Auchterlonie +could only answer in distress, "Maybe that's what it is." + +"That's what it is. I have had twal lang years sitting on this box to +think it out. I blame none but mysel'." + +"Then you'll have pity on Jean in her sair need," said the smith. He +read slowly the first part of the letter, but Aaron made no comment, and +the mill had not stopped for a moment. + +"She says," the smith proceeded, doggedly--"she says to say to you, +'Aaron Latta, do you mind yon day at Inverquharity and the cushie +doos?'" + +Only the monotonous whirr of the mill replied. + +"She says, 'Aaron Latta, do you mind that Jean Myles was ower heavy for +you to lift? Oh, Aaron, you could lift me so pitiful easy now.'" + +Another thread broke and the warper rose with sudden fury. + +"Now that you've eased your conscience, smith," he said, fiercely, "make +your feet your friend." + +"I'll do so," Auchterlonie answered, laying the letter on the webs, "but +I leave this ahint me." + +"Wap it in the fire." + +"If that's to be done, you do it yoursel'. Aaron, she treated you ill, +but--" + +"There's the door, smith." + +The smith walked away, and had only gone a few steps when he heard the +whirr of the mill again. He went back to the door. + +"She's dying, man!" he cried. + +"Let her die!" answered Aaron. + +In an hour the sensational news was through half of Thrums, of which +Monypenny may be regarded as a broken piece, left behind, like the dot +of quicksilver in the tube, to show how high the town once rose. Some +could only rejoice at first in the down-come of Jean Myles, but most +blamed the smith (and himself among them) for not taking note of her +address, so that Thrums Street could be informed of it and sent to her +relief. For Blinder alone believed that Aaron would be softened. + +"It was twa threads the smith saw him break," the blind man said, "and +Aaron's good at his work. He'll go to London, I tell you." + +"You forget, Blinders, that he was warping afore I was a dozen steps +frae the door." + +"Ay, and that just proves he hadna burned the letter, for he hadna time. +If he didna do it at the first impulse, he'll no do it now." + +Every little while the boys were sent along the road to look in at +Aaron's end window and report. + +At seven in the evening Aaron had not left his box, and the blind man's +reputation for seeing farther than those with eyes was fallen low. + +"It's a good sign," he insisted, nevertheless. "It shows his mind's +troubled, for he usually louses at six." + +By eight the news was that Aaron had left his mill and was sitting +staring at his kitchen fire. + +"He's thinking o' Inverquharity and the cushie doos," said Blinder. + +"More likely," said Dite Deuchars, "he's thinking o' the Cuttle Well." + +Corp Shiach clattered along the road about nine to say that Aaron Latta +was putting on his blacks as if for a journey. + +At once the blind man's reputation rose on stilts. It fell flat, +however, before the ten-o'clock bell rang, when three of the +Auchterlonie children, each pulling the others back that he might arrive +first, announced that Aaron had put on his corduroys again, and was back +at the mill. + +"That settles it," was everyone's good-night to Blinder, but he only +answered thoughtfully, "There's a fierce fight going on, my billies." + +Next morning when his niece was shaving the blind man, the razor had to +travel over a triumphant smirk which would not explain itself to +womankind, Blinder being a man who could bide his time. The time came +when the smith looked in to say, "Should I gang yont to Aaron's and see +if he'll give me the puir woman's address?" + +"No, I wouldna advise that," answered Blinder, cleverly concealing his +elation, "for Aaron Latta's awa' to London." + +"What! How can you ken?" + +"I heard him go by in the night." + +"It's no possible!" + +"I kent his foot." + +"You're sure it was Aaron?" + +Blinder did not consider the question worth answering, his sharpness at +recognizing friends by their tread being proved. Sometimes he may have +carried his pretensions too far. Many granted that he could tell when a +doctor went by, when a lawyer, when a thatcher, when a herd, and this is +conceivable, for all callings have their walk. But he was regarded as +uncanny when he claimed not only to know ministers in this way, but to +be able to distinguish between the steps of the different denominations. + +He had made no mistake about the warper, however. Aaron was gone, and +ten days elapsed before he was again seen in Thrums. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +A CHILD'S TRAGEDY + + +No one in Thrums ever got a word from Aaron Latta about how he spent +those ten days, and Tommy and Elspeth, whom he brought back with him, +also tried to be reticent, but some of the women were too clever for +them. Jean and Aaron did not meet again. Her first intimation that he +had come she got from Shovel, who said that a little high-shouldered man +in black had been inquiring if she was dead, and was now walking up and +down the street, like one waiting. She sent her children out to him, but +he would not come up. He had answered Tommy roughly, but when Elspeth +slipped her hand into his, he let it stay there, and he instructed her +to tell Jean Myles that he would bury her in the Thrums cemetery and +bring up her bairns. Jean managed once to go to the window and look down +at him, and by and by he looked up and saw her. They looked long at each +other, and then he turned away his head and began to walk up and down +again. + +At Tilliedrum the coffin was put into a hearse and thus conveyed to +Monypenny, Aaron and the two children sitting on the box-seat. Someone +said, "Jean Myles boasted that when she came back to Thrums it would be +in her carriage and pair, and she has kept her word," and the saying is +still preserved in that Bible for week-days of which all little places +have their unwritten copy, one of the wisest of books, but nearly every +text in it has cost a life. + +About a score of men put on their blacks and followed the hearse from +the warper's house to the grave. Elspeth wanted to accompany Tommy, but +Aaron held her back, saying, quietly, "In this part, it's only men that +go to burials, so you and me maun bide at name," and then she cried, no +one understood why, except Tommy. It was because he would see Thrums +first; but he whispered to her, "I promise to keep my eyes shut and no +look once," and so faithfully did he keep his promise on the whole that +the smith held him by the hand most of the way, under the impression +that he was blind. + +But he had opened his eyes at the grave, when a cord was put into his +hand, and then he wept passionately, and on his way back to Monypenny, +whether his eyes were open or shut, what he saw was his mother being +shut up in a black hole and trying for ever and ever to get out. He ran +to Elspeth for comfort, but in the meantime she had learned from +Blinder's niece that graves are dark and cold, and so he found her +sobbing even like himself. Tommy could never bear to see Elspeth +crying, and he revealed his true self in his way of drying her tears. + +"It will be so cold in that hole," she sobbed. + +"No," he said, "it's warm." + +"It will be dark." + +"No, it's clear." + +"She would like to get out." + +"No, she was terrible pleased to get in." + +It was characteristic of him that he soon had Elspeth happy by arguments +not one of which he believed himself; characteristic also that his own +grief was soothed by the sound of them. Aaron, who was in the garret +preparing their bed, had told the children that they must remain indoors +to-day out of respect to their mother's memory (to-morrow morning they +could explore Thrums); but there were many things in that kitchen for +them to look at and exult over. It had no commonplace ceiling, the +couples, or rafters, being covered with the loose flooring of a romantic +garret, and in the rafters were several great hooks, from one of which +hung a ham, and Tommy remembered, with a thrill which he communicated to +Elspeth, that it is the right of Thrums children to snip off the ham as +much as they can remove with their finger-nails and roast it on the ribs +of the fire. The chief pieces of furniture were a dresser, a corner +cupboard with diamond panes, two tables, one of which stood beneath the +other, but would have to come out if Aaron tried to bake, and a bed +with a door. These two did not know it, but the room was full of +memories of Jean Myles. The corner cupboard had been bought by Aaron at +a roup because she said she would like to have one; it was she who had +chosen the six cups and saucers with the blue spots on them. A +razor-strop, now hard as iron, hung on a nail on the wall; it had not +been used since the last time Aaron strutted through the Den with his +sweetheart. One day later he had opened the door of the bird-cage, which +still stood in the window, and let the yellow yite go. Many things were +where no woman would have left them: clothes on the floor with the nail +they had torn from the wall; on a chair a tin basin, soapy water and a +flannel rag in it; horn spoons with whistles at the end of them were +anywhere--on the mantelpiece, beneath the bed; there were drawers that +could not be opened because their handles were inside. Perhaps the +windows were closed hopelessly also, but this must be left doubtful; no +one had ever tried to open them. + +The garret where Tommy and Elspeth were to sleep was reached by a ladder +from the hallan; when you were near the top of the ladder your head hit +a trap-door and pushed it open. At one end of the garret was the bed, +and at the other end were piled sticks for firewood and curious +dark-colored slabs whose smell the children disliked until Tommy said, +excitedly, "Peat!" and then they sniffed reverently. + +It was Tommy, too, who discovered the tree-tops of the Den, and Elspeth +seeing him gazing in a transport out at the window cried, "What is it, +Tommy? Quick!" + +"Promise no to scream," he replied, warningly. "Well, then, Elspeth +Sandys, that's where the Den is!" + +Elspeth blinked with awe, and anon said, wistfully, "Tommy, do you see +that there? That's where the Den is!" + +"It were me what told you," cried Tommy, jealously. + +"But let me tell you, Tommy!" + +"Well, then, you can tell me." + +"That there is the Den, Tommy!" + +"Dagont!" + +Oh, that to-morrow were here! Oh, that Shovel could see these two +to-morrow! + +Here is another splendid game, T. Sandys, inventor. The girl goes into +the bed, the boy shuts the door on her, and imitates the sound of a +train in motion. He opens the door and cries, "Tickets, please." The +girl says, "What is the name of this place?" The boy replies, "It's +Thrums!" There is more to follow, but the only two who have played the +game always roared so joyously at this point that they could get no +farther. + +"Oh, to-morrow, come quick, quick!" + +"Oh, poor Shovel!" + +To-morrow came, and with it two eager little figures rose and gulped +their porridge, and set off to see Thrums. They were dressed in the +black clothes Aaron Latta had bought for them in London, and they had +agreed just to walk, but when they reached the door and saw the +tree-tops of the Den they--they ran. Would you not like to hold them +back? It is a child's tragedy. + +They went first into the Den, and the rocks were dripping wet, all the +trees, save the firs, were bare, and the mud round a tiny spring pulled +off one of Elspeth's boots. + +"Tommy," she cried, quaking, "that narsty puddle can't not be the Cuttle +Well, can it?" + +"No, it ain't," said Tommy, quickly, but he feared it was. + +"It's c-c-colder here than London," Elspeth said, shivering, and Tommy +was shivering too, but he answered, "I'm--I'm--I'm warm." + +The Den was strangely small, and soon they were on a shabby brae where +women in short gowns came to their doors and men in night-caps sat down +on the shafts of their barrows to look at Jean Myles's bairns. + +"What does yer think?" Elspeth whispered, very doubtfully. + +"They're beauties," Tommy answered, determinedly. + +Presently Elspeth cried, "Oh, Tommy, what a ugly stair! Where is the +beauty stairs as is wore outside for show?" + +This was one of them and Tommy knew it. "Wait till you see the west +town end," he said bravely; "it's grand." But when they were in the west +town end, and he had to admit it, "Wait till you see the square," he +said, and when they were in the square, "Wait," he said, huskily, "till +you see the town-house." Alas, this was the town-house facing them, and +when they knew it, he said hurriedly, "Wait till you see the Auld Licht +Kirk." + +They stood long in front of the Auld Licht Kirk, which he had sworn was +bigger and lovelier than St. Paul's, but--well, it is a different style +of architecture, and had Elspeth not been there with tears in waiting, +Tommy would have blubbered. "It's--it's littler than I thought," he said +desperately, "but--the minister, oh, what a wonderful big man he is!" + +"Are you sure?" Elspeth squeaked. + +"I swear he is." + +The church door opened and a gentleman came out, a little man, boyish in +the back, with the eager face of those who live too quickly. But it was +not at him that Tommy pointed reassuringly; it was at the monster church +key, half of which protruded from his tail pocket and waggled like the +hilt of a sword. + +Speaking like an old residenter, Tommy explained that he had brought his +sister to see the church, "She's ta'en aback," he said, picking out +Scotch words carefully, "because it's littler than the London kirks, +but I telled her--I telled her that the preaching is better." + +This seemed to please the stranger, for he patted Tommy on the head +while inquiring, "How do you know that the preaching is better?" + +"Tell him, Elspeth," replied Tommy modestly. + +"There ain't nuthin' as Tommy don't know," Elspeth explained. "He knows +what the minister is like too." + +"He's a noble sight," said Tommy. + +"He can get anything from God he likes," said Elspeth. + +"He's a terrible big man," said Tommy. + +This seemed to please the little gentleman less. "Big!" he exclaimed, +irritably; "why should he be big?" + +"He is big," Elspeth almost screamed, for the minister was her last +hope. + +"Nonsense!" said the little gentleman. "He is--well, I am the minister." + +"You!" roared Tommy, wrathfully. + +"Oh, oh, oh!" sobbed Elspeth. + +For a moment the Rev. Mr. Dishart looked as if he would like to knock +two little heads together, but he walked away without doing it. + +"Never mind," Tommy whispered hoarsely to Elspeth. "Never mind, Elspeth, +you have me yet." + +This consolation seldom failed to gladden her, but her disappointment +was so sharp to-day that she would not even look up. + +"Come away to the cemetery, it's grand," he said; but still she would +not be comforted. + +"And I'll let you hold my hand--as soon as we're past the houses," he +added. + +"I'll let you hold it now," he said eventually; but even then Elspeth +cried dismally, and her sobs were hurting him more than her. + +He knew all the ways of getting round Elspeth, and when next he spoke it +was with a sorrowful dignity. "I didna think," he said, "as yer wanted +me never to be able to speak again; no, I didna think it, Elspeth." + +She took her hands from her face and looked at him inquiringly. + +"One of the stories mamma telled me and Reddy," he said, "were about a +man what saw such a beauty thing that he was struck dumb with +admiration. Struck dumb is never to be able to speak again, and I wish I +had been struck dumb when you wanted it." + +"But I didn't want it!" Elspeth cried. + +"If Thrums had been one little bit beautier than it is," he went on +solemnly, "it would have struck me dumb. It would have hurt me sore, but +what about that, if it pleased you!" + +Then did Elspeth see what a wicked girl she had been, and when next the +two were observed by the curious (it was on the cemetery road), they +were once more looking cheerful. At the smallest provocation they +exchanged notes of admiration, such as, "Oh, Tommy, what a bonny +barrel!" or "Oh, Elspeth, I tell yer that's a dyke, and there's just +walls in London," but sometimes Elspeth would stoop hastily, pretending +that she wanted to tie her bootlace, but really to brush away a tear, +and there were moments when Tommy hung very limp. Each was trying to +deceive the other for the other's sake, and one of them was never good +at deception. They saw through each other, yet kept up the chilly game, +because they could think of nothing better, and perhaps the game was +worth playing, for love invented it. + +They sat down on their mother's grave. No stone was ever erected to the +memory of Jean Myles, but it is enough for her that she lies at home. +That comfort will last her to the Judgment Day. + +The man who had dug the grave sent them away, and they wandered to the +hill, and thence down the Roods, where there were so many outside stairs +not put there for show that it was well Elspeth remembered how +susceptible Tommy was to being struck dumb. For her sake he said, +"They're bonny," and for his sake she replied, "I'm glad they ain't +bonnier." + +When within one turn of Monypenny they came suddenly upon some boys +playing at capey-dykey, a game with marbles that is only known in +Thrums. There are thirty-five ways of playing marbles, but this is the +best way, and Elspeth knew that Tommy was hungering to look on, but +without her, lest he should be accused of sweethearting. So she offered +to remain in the background. + +Was she sure she shouldn't mind? + +She said falteringly that of course she would mind a little, but-- + +Then Tommy was irritated, and said he knew she would mind, but if she +just pretended she didn't mind, he could leave her without feeling that +he was mean. + +So Elspeth affected not to mind, and then he deserted her, conscience at +rest, which was his nature. But he should have remained with her. The +players only gave him the side of their eye, and a horrid fear grew on +him that they did not know he was a Thrums boy. "Dagont!" he cried to +put them right on that point, but though they paused in their game, it +was only to laugh at him uproariously. Let the historian use an oath for +once; dagont, Tommy had said the swear in the wrong place! + +How fond he had been of that word! Many a time he had fired it in the +face of Londoners, and the flash had often blinded them and always him. +Now he had brought it home, and Thrums would have none of it; it was as +if these boys were jeering at their own flag. He tottered away from them +until he came to a trance, or passage, where he put his face to the wall +and forgot even Elspeth. + +He had not noticed a girl pass the mouth of the trance, trying not very +successfully to conceal a brandy-bottle beneath her pinafore, but +presently he heard shouts, and looking out he saw Grizel, the Painted +Lady's child, in the hands of her tormentors. She was unknown to him, of +course, but she hit back so courageously that he watched her with +interest, until--until suddenly he retreated farther into the trance. He +had seen Elspeth go on her knees, obviously to ask God to stay the hands +and tongues of these cruel boys. + +Elspeth had disgraced him, he felt. He was done with her forever. If +they struck her, serve her right. + +Struck her! Struck little Elspeth! His imagination painted the picture +with one sweep of its brush. Take care, you boys, Tommy is scudding +back. + +They had not molested Elspeth as yet. When they saw and heard her +praying, they had bent forward, agape, as if struck suddenly in the +stomach. Then one of them, Francie Crabb, the golden-haired son of +Esther Auld, recovered and began to knead Grizel's back with his fists, +less in viciousness than to show that the prayer was futile. Into this +scene sprang Tommy, and he thought that Elspeth was the kneaded one. Had +he taken time to reflect he would probably have used the Thrums feint, +and then in with a left-hander, which is not very efficacious in its own +country; but being in a hurry he let out with Shovel's favorite, and +down went Francie Crabb. + +"Would you!" said Tommy, threatening, when Francie attempted to rise. + +He saw now that Elspeth was untouched, that he had rescued an unknown +girl, and it cannot be pretended of him that he was the boy to squire +all ladies in distress. In ordinary circumstances he might have left +Grizel to her fate, but having struck for her, he felt that he would +like to go on striking. He had also the day's disappointments to avenge. +It is startling to reflect that the little minister's height, for +instance, put an extra kick in him. + +So he stood stridelegs over Francie, who whimpered, "I wouldna have +struck this one if that one hadna prayed for me. It wasna likely I would +stand that." + +"You shall stand it," replied Tommy, and turning to Elspeth, who had +risen from her knees, he said: "Pray away, Elspeth." + +Elspeth refused, feeling that there would be something wrong in praying +from triumph, and Tommy, about to be very angry with her, had a glorious +inspiration. "Pray for yourself," he said to Francie, "and do it out +loud." + +The other boys saw that a novelty promised, and now Francie need expect +no aid from them. At first he refused to pray, but he succumbed when +Tommy had explained the consequences, and illustrated them. + +Tommy dictated: "Oh, God, I am a sinner. Go on." + +Francie not only said it, but looked it. + +"And I pray to you to repent me, though I ain't worthy," continued +Tommy. + +"And I pray to you to repent me, though I ain't worthy," growled +Francie. (It was the arrival of ain't in Thrums.) + +Tommy considered, and then: "I thank Thee, O God," he said, "for telling +this girl--this lassie--to pray for me." + +Two gentle taps helped to knock this out of Francie. + +Being an artist, Tommy had kept his best for the end (and made it up +first). "And lastly," he said, "I thank this boy for thrashing me--I +mean this here laddie. Oh, may he allus be near to thrash me when I +strike this other lassie again. Amen." + +When it was all over Tommy looked around triumphantly, and though he +liked the expression on several faces, Grizel's pleased him best. "It +ain't no wonder you would like to be me, lassie!" he said, in an +ecstasy. + +"I don't want to be you, you conceited boy," retorted the Painted Lady's +child hotly, and her heat was the greater because the clever little +wretch had read her thoughts aright. But it was her sweet voice that +surprised him. + +"You're English!" he cried. + +"So are you," broke in a boy offensively, and then Tommy said to Grizel +loftily, "Run away; I'll not let none on them touch you." + +"I am not afraid of them," she rejoined, with scorn, "and I shall not +let you help me, and I won't run." And run she did not; she walked off +leisurely with her head in the air, and her dignity was beautiful, +except once when she made the mistake of turning round to put out her +tongue. + +But, alas! in the end someone ran. If only they had not called him +"English." In vain he fired a volley of Scotch; they pretended not to +understand it. Then he screamed that he and Shovel could fight the lot +of them. Who was Shovel? they asked derisively. He replied that Shovel +was a bloke who could lick any two of them--and with one hand tied +behind his back. + +No sooner had he made this proud boast than he went white, and soon two +disgraceful tears rolled down his cheeks. The boys saw that for some +reason unknown his courage was gone, and even Francie Crabb began to +turn up his sleeves and spit upon his hands. + +Elspeth was as bewildered as the others, but she slipped her hand into +his and away they ran ingloriously, the foe too much astounded to jeer. +She sought to comfort him by saying (and it brought her a step nearer +womanhood), "You wasn't feared for yourself, you wasn't; you was just +feared they would hurt me." + +But Tommy sobbed in reply, "That ain't it. I bounced so much about the +Thrums folk to Shovel, and now the first day I'm here I heard myself +bouncing about Shovel to Thrums folk, and it were that what made me +cry. Oh, Elspeth, it's--it's not the same what I thought it would be!" + +Nor was it the same to Elspeth, so they sat down by the roadside and +cried with their arms round each other, and any passer-by could look who +had the heart. But when night came, and they were in their garret bed, +Tommy was once more seeking to comfort Elspeth with arguments he +disbelieved, and again he succeeded. As usual, too, the make-believe +made him happy also. + +"Have you forgot," he whispered, "that my mother said as she would come +and see us every night in our bed? If yer cries, she'll see as we're +terrible unhappy, and that will make her unhappy too." + +"Oh, Tommy, is she here now?" + +"Whisht! She's here, but they don't like living ones to let on as they +knows it." + +Elspeth kept closer to Tommy, and with their heads beneath the blankets, +so as to stifle the sound, he explained to her how they could cheat +their mother. When she understood, he took the blankets off their faces +and said in the darkness in a loud voice: + +"It's a grand place, Thrums!" + +Elspeth replied in a similar voice, "Ain't the town-house just big!" + +Said Tommy, almost chuckling, "Oh, the bonny, bonny Auld Licht Kirk!" + +Said Elspeth, "Oh, the beauty outside stairs!" + +Said Tommy, "The minister is so long!" + +Said Elspeth, "The folk is so kind!" + +Said Tommy, "Especially the laddies!" + +"Oh, I is so happy!" cried Elspeth. + +"Me too!" cried Tommy. + +"My mother would be so chirpy if she could jest see us!" Elspeth said, +quite archly. + +"But she canna!" replied Tommy, slyly pinching Elspeth in the rib. + +Then they dived beneath the blankets, and the whispering was resumed. + +"Did she hear, does yer think?" asked Elspeth. + +"Every word," Tommy replied. "Elspeth, we've done her!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +SHOWS HOW TOMMY TOOK CARE OF ELSPETH + + +Thus the first day passed, and others followed in which women, who had +known Jean Myles, did her children kindnesses, but could not do all they +would have done, for Aaron forbade them to enter his home except on +business though it was begging for a housewife all day. Had Elspeth at +the age of six now settled down to domestic duties she would not have +been the youngest housekeeper ever known in Thrums, but she was never +very good at doing things, only at loving and being loved, and the +observant neighbors thought her a backward girl; they forgot, like most +people, that service is not necessarily a handicraft. Tommy discovered +what they were saying, and to shield Elspeth he took to housewifery with +the blind down; but Aaron, entering the kitchen unexpectedly, took the +besom from, him, saying: + +"It's an ill thing for men folk to ken ower muckle about women's work." + +"You do it yoursel'," Tommy argued. + +"I said men folk," replied Aaron, quietly. + +The children knew that remarks of this sort had reference to their +mother, of whom he never spoke more directly; indeed he seldom spoke to +them at all, and save when he was cooking or giving the kitchen a +slovenly cleaning they saw little of him. Monypenny had predicted that +their presence must make a new man of him, but he was still unsociable +and morose and sat as long as ever at the warping-mill, of which he +seemed to have become the silent wheel. Tommy and Elspeth always dropped +their voices when they spoke of him, and sometimes when his mill stopped +he heard one of them say to the other, "Whisht, he's coming!" Though he +seldom, spoke sharply to them, his face did not lose its loneliness at +sight of them. Elspeth was his favorite (somewhat to the indignation of +both); they found this out without his telling them or even showing it +markedly, and when they wanted to ask anything of him she was deputed to +do it, but she did it quavering, and after drawing farther away from him +instead of going nearer. A dreary life would have lain before them had +they not been sent to school. + +There were at this time three schools in Thrums, the chief of them ruled +over by the terrible Cathro (called Knuckly when you were a street away +from him). It was a famous school, from which a band of three or four or +even six marched every autumn to the universities as determined after +bursaries as ever were Highlandmen to lift cattle, and for the same +reason, that they could not do without. + +A very different kind of dominie was Cursing Ballingall, who had been +dropped at Thrums by a travelling circus, and first became familiar to +the town as, carrying two carpet shoes, two books, a pillow, and a +saucepan, which were all his belongings, he wandered from manse to manse +offering to write sermons for the ministers at circus prices. That +scheme failing, he was next seen looking in at windows in search of a +canny calling, and eventually he cut one of his braces into a pair of +tawse, thus with a single stroke of the knife, making himself a +school-master and lop-sided for life. His fee was but a penny a week, +"with a bit o' the swine when your father kills," and sometimes there +were so many pupils on a form that they could only rise as one. During +the first half of the scholastic day Ballingall's shouts and pounces +were for parents to listen to, but after his dinner of crowdy, which is +raw meal and hot water, served in a cogie, or wooden bowl, languor +overcame him and he would sleep, having first given out a sum in +arithmetic and announced: + +"The one as finds out the answer first, I'll give him his licks." + +Last comes the Hanky School, which was for the genteel and for the +common who contemplated soaring. You were not admitted to it in +corduroys or bare-footed, nor did you pay weekly; no, your father called +four times a year with the money in an envelope. He was shown into the +blue-and-white room, and there, after business had been transacted, very +nervously on Miss Ailie's part, she offered him his choice between +ginger wine and what she falteringly called wh-wh-whiskey. He partook in +the polite national manner, which is thus: + +"You will take something, Mr. Cortachy?" + +"No, I thank you, ma'am." + +"A little ginger wine?" + +"It agrees ill with me." + +"Then a little wh-wh-whiskey?" + +"You are ower kind." + +"Then may I?" + +"I am not heeding." + +"Perhaps, though, you don't take?" + +"I can take it or want it." + +"Is that enough?" + +"It will do perfectly." + +"Shall I fill it up?" + +"As you please, ma'am." + +Miss Ailie's relationship to the magerful man may be remembered; she +shuddered to think of it herself, for in middle-age she retained the +mind of a young girl, but when duty seemed to call, this school-mistress +could be brave, and she offered to give Elspeth her schooling free of +charge. Like the other two hers was a "mixed" school, but she did not +want Tommy, because she had seen him in the square one day, and there +was a leer on his face that reminded her of his father. + +Another woman was less particular. This was Mrs. Crabb, of the Tappit +Hen, the Esther Auld whom Jean Myles's letters had so frequently sent +to bed. Her Francie was still a pupil of Miss Ailie, and still he wore +the golden hair, which, despite all advice, she would not crop. It was +so beautiful that no common boys could see it without wanting to give it +a tug in passing, and partly to prevent this, partly to show how high +she had risen in the social scale, Esther usually sent him to school +under the charge of her servant lass. She now proposed to Aaron that +this duty should devolve on Tommy, and for the service she would pay his +fees at the Hanky School. + +"We maun all lend a hand to poor Jean's bairns," she said, with a gleam +in her eye. "It would have been well for her, Aaron, if she had married +you." + +"Is that all you have to say?" asked the warper, who had let her enter +no farther than the hallan. + +"I would expect him to lift Francie ower the pools in wet weather; and +it might be as well if he called him Master Francie." + +"Is that all?" + +"Ay, I ask no more, for we maun all help Jean's bairns. If she could +only look down, Aaron, and see her little velvets, as she called him, +lifting my little corduroys ower the pools!" + +Aaron flung open the door. "Munt!" he said, and he looked so dangerous +that she retired at once. He sent Tommy to Ballingall's, and accepted +Miss Ailie's offer for Elspeth, but this was an impossible arrangement, +for it was known to the two persons primarily concerned that Elspeth +would die if she was not where Tommy was. The few boys he had already +begun to know were at Cathro's or Ballingall's, and as they called Miss +Ailie's a lassie school he had no desire to attend it, but where he was +there also must Elspeth be. Daily he escaped from Ballingall's and hid +near the Dovecot, as Miss Ailie's house was called, and every little +while he gave vent to Shovel's whistle, so that Elspeth might know of +his proximity and be cheered. Thrice was he carried back, kicking, to +Ballingall's by urchins sent in pursuit, stern ministers of justice on +the first two occasions; but on the third they made him an offer: if he +would hide in Couthie's hen-house they were willing to look for him +everywhere else for two hours. + +Tommy's behavior seemed beautiful to the impressionable Miss Ailie, but +it infuriated Aaron, and on the fourth day he set off for the parish +school, meaning to put the truant in the hands of Cathro, from whom +there was no escape. Vainly had Elspeth implored him to let Tommy come +to the Dovecot, and vainly apparently was she trotting at his side now, +looking up appealingly in his face. But when they reached the gate of +the parish school-yard he walked past it because she was tugging him, +and always when he seemed about to turn she took his hand again, and he +seemed to have lost the power to resist Jean Myles's bairn. So they came +to the Dovecot, and Miss Ailie gained a pupil who had been meant for +Cathro. Tommy's arms were stronger than Elspeth's, but they could not +hare done as much for him that day. + +Thus did the two children enter upon the genteel career, to the +indignation of the other boys and girls of Monypenny, all of whom were +commoners. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE HANKY SCHOOL + + +The Dovecot was a prim little cottage standing back from the steepest +brae in Thrums and hidden by high garden walls, to the top of which +another boy's shoulders were, for apple-lovers, but one step up. +Jargonelle trees grew against the house, stretching their arms round it +as if to measure its girth, and it was also remarkable for several +"dumb" windows with the most artful blinds painted on them. Miss Ailie's +fruit was famous, but she loved her flowers best, and for long a notice +board in her garden said, appealingly: "Persons who come to steal the +fruit are requested not to walk on the flower-beds." It was that old +bachelor, Dr. McQueen, who suggested this inscription to her, and she +could never understand why he chuckled every time he read it. + +There were seven rooms in the house, but only two were of public note, +the school-room, which was downstairs, and the blue-and-white room +above. The school-room was so long that it looked very low in the +ceiling, and it had a carpet, and on the walls were texts as well as +maps. Miss Ailie's desk was in the middle of the room, and there was +another desk in the corner; a cloth had been hung over it, as one covers +a cage to send the bird to sleep. Perhaps Miss Ailie thought that a bird +had once sung there, for this had been the desk of her sister, Miss +Kitty, who died years before Tommy came to Thrums. Dainty Miss Kitty, +Miss Kitty with the roguish curls, it is strange to think that you are +dead, and that only Miss Ailie hears you singing now at your desk in the +corner! Miss Kitty never sang there, but the playful ringlets were once +the bright thing in the room, and Miss Ailie sees them still, and they +are a song to her. + +The pupils had to bring handkerchiefs to the Dovecot, which led to its +being called the Hanky School, and in time these handkerchiefs may be +said to have assumed a religious character, though their purpose was +merely to protect Miss Ailie's carpet. She opened each scholastic day by +reading fifteen verses from the Bible, and then she said sternly, +"Hankies!" whereupon her pupils whipped out their handkerchiefs, spread +them on the floor and kneeled on them while Miss Ailie repeated the +Lord's Prayer. School closed at four o'clock, again with hankies. + +Only on great occasions were the boys and girls admitted to the +blue-and-white room, when they were given shortbread, but had to eat it +with their heads flung back so that no crumbs should fall. Nearly +everything in this room was blue or white, or both. There were white +blinds and blue curtains, a blue table-cover and a white crumb-cloth, a +white sheepskin with a blue footstool on it, blue chairs dotted with +white buttons. Only white flowers came into this room, where there were +blue vases for them, not a book was to be seen without a blue alpaca +cover. Here Miss Ailie received visitors in her white with the blue +braid, and enrolled new pupils in blue ink with a white pen. Some +laughed at her, others remembered that she must have something to love +after Miss Kitty died. + +Miss Ailie had her romance, as you may hear by and by, but you would not +have thought it as she came forward to meet you in the blue-and-white +room, trembling lest your feet had brought in mud, but too much a lady +to ask you to stand on a newspaper, as she would have liked dearly to +do. She was somewhat beyond middle-age, and stoutly, even squarely, +built, which gave her a masculine appearance; but she had grown so timid +since Miss Kitty's death that when she spoke you felt that either her +figure or her manner must have been intended for someone else. In +conversation she had a way of ending a sentence in the middle which gave +her a reputation of being "thro'ither," though an artificial tooth was +the cause. It was slightly loose, and had she not at times shut her +mouth suddenly, and then done something with her tongue, an accident +might have happened. This tooth fascinated Tommy, and once when she was +talking he cried, excitedly, "Quick, it's coming!" whereupon her mouth +snapped close, and she turned pink in the blue-and-white room. + +Nevertheless Tommy became her favorite, and as he had taught himself to +read, after a fashion, in London, where his lesson-books were chiefly +placards and the journal subscribed to by Shovel's father, she often +invited him after school hours to the blue-and-white room, where he sat +on a kitchen chair (with his boots off) and read aloud, very slowly, +while Miss Ailie knitted. The volume was from the Thrums Book Club, of +which Miss Ailie was one of the twelve members. Each member contributed +a book every year, and as their tastes in literature differed, all sorts +of books came into the club, and there was one member who invariably +gave a ro-ro-romance. He was double-chinned and forty, but the +school-mistress called him the dashing young banker, and for months she +avoided his dangerous contribution. But always there came a black day +when a desire to read the novel seized her, and she hurried home with it +beneath her rokelay. This year the dashing banker's choice was a lady's +novel called "I Love My Love with an A," and it was a frivolous tale, +those being before the days of the new fiction, with its grand discovery +that women have an equal right with men to grow beards. The hero had +such a way with him and was so young (Miss Ailie could not stand them a +day more than twenty) that the school-mistress was enraptured and scared +at every page, but she fondly hoped that Tommy did not understand. +However, he discovered one day what something printed thus, "D--n," +meant, and he immediately said the word with such unction that Miss +Ailie let fall her knitting. She would have ended the readings then had +not Agatha been at that point in the arms of an officer who, Miss Ailie +felt almost certain, had a wife in India, and so how could she rest till +she knew for certain? To track the officer by herself was not to be +thought of, to read without knitting being such shameless waste of time, +and it was decided to resume the readings on a revised plan: Tommy to +say "stroke" in place of the "D--ns," and "word we have no concern with" +instead of "Darling" and "Little One." + +Miss Ailie was not the only person at the Dovecot who admired Tommy. +Though in duty bound, as young patriots, to jeer at him for having been +born in the wrong place, the pupils of his own age could not resist the +charm of his reminiscences; even Gav Dishart, a son of the manse, +listened attentively to him. His great topic was his birthplace, and +whatever happened in Thrums, he instantly made contemptible by citing +something of the same kind, but on a larger scale, that had happened in +London; he turned up his nose almost farther than was safe when they +said Catlaw was a stiff mountain to climb. ("Oh, Gav, if you just saw +the London mountains!") Snow! why they didn't know what snow was in +Thrums. If they could only see St. Paul's or Hyde Park or Shovel! he +couldn't help laughing at Thrums, he couldn't--Larfing, he said at +first, but in a short time his Scotch was better than theirs, though +less unconscious. His English was better also, of course, and you had to +speak in a kind of English when inside the Hanky School; you got your +revenge at "minutes." On the whole, Tommy irritated his fellow-pupils a +good deal, but they found it difficult to keep away from him. + +He also contrived to enrage the less genteel boys of Monypenny. Their +leader was Corp Shiach, three years Tommy's senior, who had never been +inside a school except once, when he broke hopefully into Ballingall's +because of a stirring rumor (nothing in it) that the dominie had hangit +himself with his remaining brace; then in order of merit came Birkie +Fleemister; then, perhaps, the smith's family, called the +Haggerty-Taggertys, they were such slovens. When school was over Tommy +frequently stepped out of his boots and stockings, so that he no longer +looked offensively genteel, and then Monypenny was willing to let him +join in spyo, smuggle bools, kickbonnety, peeries, the preens, suckers +pilly, or whatever game was in season, even to the baiting of the +Painted Lady, but they would not have Elspeth, who should have been +content to play dumps with the female Haggerty-Taggertys, but could +enjoy no game of which Tommy was not the larger half. Many times he +deserted her for manlier joys, but though she was out of sight he could +not forget her longing face, and soon he sneaked off to her; he +upbraided her, but he stayed with her. They bore with him for a time, +but when they discovered that she had persuaded him (after prayer) to +put back the spug's eggs which he had brought home in triumph, then they +drove him from their company, and for a long time afterwards his deadly +enemy was the hard-hitting Corp Shiach. + +Elspeth was not invited to attend the readings of "I Love My Love with +an A," perhaps because there were so many words in it that she had no +concern with, but she knew they ended as the eight-o'clock bell began to +ring, and it was her custom to meet Tommy a few yards from Aaron's door. +Farther she durst not venture in the gloaming through fear of the +Painted Lady, for Aaron's house was not far from the fearsome lane that +led to Double Dykes, and even the big boys who made faces at this woman +by day ran from her in the dusk. Creepy tales were told of what happened +to those on whom she cast a blighting eye before they could touch cold +iron, and Tommy was one of many who kept a bit of cold iron from the +smithy handy in his pocket. On his way home from the readings he never +had occasion to use it, but at these times he sometimes met Grizel, who +liked to do her shopping in the evenings when her persecutors were more +easily eluded, and he forced her to speak to him. Not her loneliness +appealed to him, but that look of admiration she had given him when he +was astride of Francie Crabb. For such a look he could pardon many +rebuffs; without it no praise greatly pleased him; he was always on the +outlook for it. + +"I warrant," he said to her one evening, "you want to have some man-body +to take care of you the way I take care of Elspeth." + +"No, I don't," she replied, promptly. + +"Would you no like somebody to love you?" + +"Do you mean kissing?" she asked. + +"There's better things in it than that," he said guardedly; "but if you +want kissing, I--I--Elspeth'll kiss you." + +"Will she want to do it?" inquired Grizel, a little wistfully. + +"I'll make her do it," Tommy said. + +"I don't want her to do it," cried Grizel, and he could not draw another +word from her. However he was sure she thought him a wonder, and when +next they met he challenged her with it. + +"Do you not now?" + +"I won't tell you," answered Grizel, who was never known to lie. + +"You think I'm a wonder," Tommy persisted, "but you dinna want me to +know you think it." + +Grizel rocked her arms, a quaint way she had when excited, and she +blurted out, "How do you know?" + +The look he liked had come back to her face, but he had no time to enjoy +it, for just then Elspeth appeared, and Elspeth's jealousy was easily +aroused. + +"I dinna ken you, lassie," he said coolly to Grizel, and left her +stamping her foot at him. She decided never to speak to Tommy again, but +the next time they met he took her into the Den and taught her how to +fight. + +It is painful to have to tell that Miss Ailie was the person who +provided him with the opportunity. In the readings they arrived one +evening at the scene in the conservatory, which has not a single Stroke +in it, but is so full of Words We have no Concern with that Tommy reeled +home blinking, and next day so disgracefully did he flounder in his +lessons that the gentle school-mistress cast up her arms in despair. + +"I don't know what to say to you," she exclaimed. + +"Fine I know what you want to say," he retorted, and unfortunately she +asked, "What?" + +"Stroke!" he replied, leering horridly. + +"I Love My Love with an A" was returned to the club forthwith (whether +he really did have a wife in India Miss Ailie never knew) and "Judd on +the Shorter Catechism" took its place. But mark the result. The readings +ended at a quarter to eight now, at twenty to eight, at half-past seven, +and so Tommy could loiter on the way home without arousing Elspeth's +suspicion. One evening he saw Grizel cutting her way through the +Haggerty-Taggerty group, and he offered to come to her aid if she would +say "Help me." But she refused. + +When, however, the Haggerty-Taggertys were gone she condescended to say, +"I shall never, never ask you to help me, but--if you like--you can +show me how to hit without biting my tongue." + +"I'll learn you Shovel's curly ones," replied Tommy, cordially, and he +adjourned with her to the Den for that purpose. He said he chose the Den +so that Corp Shiach and the others might not interrupt them, but it was +Elspeth he was thinking of. + +"You are like Miss Ailie with her cane when she is pandying," he told +Grizel. "You begin well, but you slacken just when you are going to +hit." + +"It is because my hand opens," Grizel said. + +"And then it ends in a shove," said her mentor, severely. "You should +close your fists like this, with the thumbs inside, and then play dab, +this way, that way, yon way. That's what Shovel calls, 'You want it, +take it, you've got it.'" + +Thus did the hunted girl get her first lesson in scientific warfare in +the Den, and neither she nor Tommy saw the pathos of it. Other lessons +followed, and during the rests Grizel told Tommy all that she knew about +herself. He had won her confidence at last by--by swearing dagont that +he was English also. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE MAN WHO NEVER CAME + + +"Is it true that your mother's a bonny swearer?" + +Tommy wanted to find out all about the Painted Lady, and the best way +was to ask. + +"She does not always swear," Grizel said eagerly. "She sometimes says +sweet, sweet things." + +"What kind of things?" + +"I won't tell you." + +"Tell me one." + +"Well, then, 'Beloved.'" + +"Word We have no Concern with," murmured Tommy. He was shocked, but +still curious. "Does she say 'Beloved' to you?" he inquired. + +"No, she says it to him." + +"Him! Wha is he?" Tommy thought he was at the beginning of a discovery, +but she answered, uncomfortably, + +"I don't know." + +"But you've seen him?" + +"No, he--he is not there." + +"Not there! How can she speak to him if he's no there?" + +"She thinks he is there. He--he comes on a horse." + +"What is the horse like?" + +"There is no horse." + +"But you said--" + +"She just thinks there is a horse. She hears it." + +"Do you ever hear it?" + +"No." + +The girl was looking imploringly into Tommy's face as if begging it to +say that these things need not terrify her, but what he wanted was +information. + +"What does the Painted Lady do," he asked, "when she thinks she hears +the horse?" + +"She blows kisses, and then--then she goes to the Den." + +"What to do?" + +"She walks up and down the Den, talking to the man." + +"And him no there?" cried Tommy, scared. + +"No, there is no one there." + +"And syne what do you do?" + +"I won't tell you." + +Tommy reflected, and then he said, "She's daft." + +"She is not always daft," cried Grizel. "There are whole weeks when she +is just sweet." + +"Then what do you make of her being so queer in the Den?" + +"I am not sure, but I think--I think there was once a place like the Den +at her own home in England, where she used to meet the man long ago, +and sometimes she forgets that it is not long ago now." + +"I wonder wha the man was?" + +"I think he was my father." + +"I thought you didna ken what a father was?" + +"I know now. I think my father was a Scotsman." + +"What makes you think that?" + +"I heard a Thrums woman say it would account for my being called Grizel, +and I think we came to Scotland to look for him, but it is so long, long +ago." + +"How long?" + +"I don't know. We have lived here four years, but we were looking for +him before that. It was not in this part of Scotland we looked for him. +We gave up looking for him before we came here." + +"What made the Painted Lady take a house here, then?" + +"I think it was because the Den is so like the place she used to meet +him in long ago." + +"What was his name?" + +"I don't know." + +"Does the Painted Lady no tell you about yoursel'?" + +"No, she is angry if I ask." + +"Her name is Mary, I've heard?" + +"Mary Gray is her name, but--but I don't think it is her real name." + +"How, does she no use her real name?" + +"Because she wants her own mamma to think she is dead." + +"What makes her want that?" + +"I am not sure, but I think it is because there is me. I think it was +naughty of me to be born. Can you help being born?" + +Tommy would have liked to tell her about Reddy, but forbore, because he +still believed that he had acted criminally in that affair, and so for +the time being the inquisition ended. But though he had already +discovered all that Grizel knew about her mother and nearly all that +curious Thrums ever ferreted out, he returned to the subject at the next +meeting in the Den. + +"Where does the Painted Lady get her money?" + +"Oh," said Grizel, "that is easy. She just goes into that house called +the bank, and asks for some, and they give her as much as she likes." + +"Ay, I've heard that, but--" + +The remainder of the question was never uttered. Instead, + +"Hod ahint a tree!" cried Tommy, hastily, and he got behind one himself; +but he was too late; Elspeth was upon them; she had caught them together +at last. + +Tommy showed great cunning. "Pretend you have eggs in your hand," he +whispered to Grizel, and then, in a loud voice, he said: "Think shame of +yoursel', lassie, for harrying birds' nests. It's a good thing I saw +you, and brought you here to force you to put them back. Is that you, +Elspeth? I catched this limmer wi' eggs in her hands (and the poor birds +sic bonny singers, too!), and so I was forcing her to--" + +But it would not do. Grizel was ablaze with indignation. "You are a +horrid story-teller," she said, "and if I had known you were ashamed of +being seen with me, I should never have spoken to you. Take him," she +cried, giving Tommy a push toward Elspeth, "I don't want the mean little +story-teller." + +"He's not mean!" retorted Elspeth. + +"Nor yet little!" roared Tommy. + +"Yes, he is," insisted Grizel, "and I was not harrying nests. He came +with me here because he wanted to." + +"Just for the once," he said, hastily. + +"This is the sixth time," said Grizel, and then she marched out of the +Den. Tommy and Elspeth followed slowly, and not a word did either say +until they were in front of Aaron's house. Then by the light in the +window Tommy saw that Elspeth was crying softly, and he felt miserable. + +"I was just teaching her to fight," he said humbly. + +"You looked like it!" she replied, with the scorn that comes +occasionally to the sweetest lady. + +He tried to comfort her in various tender ways, but none of them +sufficed this time, "You'll marry her as soon as you're a man," she +insisted, and she would not let this tragic picture go. It was a case +for his biggest efforts, and he opened his mouth to threaten instant +self-destruction unless she became happy at once. But he had threatened +this too frequently of late, even shown himself drawing the knife across +his throat. + +As usual the right idea came to him at the right moment. "If you just +kent how I did it for your sake," he said, with gentle dignity, "you +wouldna blame me; you would think me noble." + +She would not help him with a question, and after waiting for it he +proceeded. "If you just kent wha she is! And I thought she was dead! +What a start it gave me when I found out it was her!" + +"Wha is she?" cried Elspeth, with a sudden shiver. + +"I was trying to keep it frae you," replied Tommy, sadly. + +She seized his arm. "Is it Reddy?" she gasped, for the story of Reddy +had been a terror to her all her days. + +"She doesna ken I was the laddie that diddled her in London," he said, +"and I promise you never to let on, Elspeth. I--I just went to the Den +with her to say things that would put her off the scent. If I hadna done +that she might have found out and ta'en your place here and tried to +pack you off to the Painted Lady's." + +Elspeth stared at him, the other grief already forgotten, and he thought +he was getting on excellently, when she cried with passion, "I don't +believe as it is Reddy!" and ran into the house. + +"Dinna believe it, then!" disappointed Tommy shouted, and now he was in +such a rage with himself that his heart hardened against her. He sought +the company of old Blinder. + +Unfortunately Elspeth had believed it, and her woe was the more pitiful +because she saw at once, what had never struck Tommy, that it would be +wicked to keep Grizel out of her rights. "I'll no win to Heaven now," +she said, despairingly, to herself, for to offer to change places with +Grizel was beyond her courage, and she tried some childish ways of +getting round God, such as going on her knees and saying, "I'm so +little, and I hinna no mother!" That was not a bad way. + +Another way was to give Grizel everything she had, except Tommy. She +collected all her treasures, the bottle with the brass top that she had +got from Shovel's old girl, the "housewife" that was a present from Miss +Ailie, the teetotum, the pretty buttons Tommy had won for her at the +game of buttony, the witchy marble, the twopence she had already saved +for the Muckley, these and some other precious trifles she made a little +bundle of and set off for Double Dykes with them, intending to leave +them at the door. This was Elspeth, who in ordinary circumstances would +not have ventured near that mysterious dwelling even in daylight and in +Tommy's company. There was no room for vulgar fear in her bursting +little heart to-night. + +Tommy went home anon, meaning to be whatever kind of boy she seemed +most in need of, but she was not in the house, she was not in the +garden; he called her name, and it was only Birkie Fleemister, mimicking +her, who answered, "Oh, Tommy, come to me!" But Birkie had news for him. + +"Sure as death," he said in some awe, "I saw Elspeth ganging yont the +double dykes, and I cried to her that the Painted Lady would do her a +mischief, but she just ran on." + +Elspeth in the double dykes--alone--and at night! Oh, how Tommy would +have liked to strike himself now! She must have believed his wicked lie +after all, and being so religious she had gone to--He gave himself no +time to finish the thought. The vital thing was that she was in peril, +he seemed to hear her calling to him, "Oh, Tommy, come quick! oh, Tommy, +oh, Tommy!" and in an agony of apprehension he ran after her. But by the +time he got to the beginning of the double dykes he knew that she must +be at the end of them, and in the Painted Lady's maw, unless their +repute by night had blown her back. He paused on the Coffin Brig, which +is one long narrow stone; and along the funnel of the double dykes he +sent the lonely whisper, "Elspeth, are you there?" He tried to shout it, +but no boy could shout there after nightfall in the Painted Lady's time, +and when the words had travelled only a little way along the double +dykes, they came whining back to him, like a dog despatched on uncanny +work. He heard no other sound save the burn stealing on tiptoe from an +evil place, and the uneasy rustling of tree-tops, and his own breathing. + +The Coffin Brig remains, but the double dykes have fallen bit by bit +into the burn, and the path they made safe is again as naked as when the +Kingoldrum Jacobites filed along it, and sweer they were, to the support +of the Pretender. It traverses a ridge and is streaked with slippery +beech-roots which like to fling you off your feet, on the one side into +a black burn twenty feet below, on the other down a pleasant slope. The +double dykes were built by a farmer fond of his dram, to stop the tongue +of a water-kelpie which lived in a pool below and gave him a turn every +night he staggered home by shouting, "Drunk again, Peewitbrae!" and +announcing, with a smack of the lips, that it had a bed ready for him in +the burn. So Peewitbrae built two parallel dykes two feet apart and two +feet high, between which he could walk home like a straight man. His +cunning took the heart out of the brute, and water-kelpies have not been +seen near Thrums since about that time. + +By day even girls played at palaulays here, and it was a favorite resort +of boys, who knew that you were a man when you could stand on both dykes +at once. They also stripped boldly to the skin and then looked +doubtfully at the water. But at night! To test your nerves you walked +alone between the double dykes, and the popular practice was to start +off whistling, which keeps up the courage. At the point where you turned +to run back (the Painted Lady after you, or so you thought) you dropped +a marked stone, which told next day how far you had ventured. Corp +Shiach long held the championship, and his stone was ostentatiously +fixed in one of the dykes with lime. Tommy had suffered at his hands for +saying that Shovel's mark was thirty yards farther on. + +With head bent to the level of the dykes, though it was almost a mirk +night beneath the trees, and one arm outstretched before him straight as +an elvint, Tommy faced this fearful passage, sometimes stopping to touch +cold iron, but on the whole hanging back little, for Elspeth was in +peril. Soon he reached the paling that was not needed to keep boys out +of the Painted Lady's garden, one of the prettiest and best-tended +flower-gardens in Thrums, and crawling through where some spars had +fallen, he approached the door as noiseless as an Indian brave after +scalps. There he crouched, with a heart that was going like a shuttle on +a loom, and listened for Elspeth's voice. + +On a night he had come nearly as far as this before, but in the tail of +big fellows with a turnip lantern. Into the wood-work of the east window +they had thrust a pin, to which a button was tied, and the button was +also attached to a long string. They hunkered afar off and pulled this +string, and then the button tapped the death-rap on the window, and the +sport was successful, for the Painted Lady screamed. But suddenly the +door opened and they were put to flight by the fierce barking of a dog. +One said that the brute nabbed him in the leg, another saw the vive +tongue of it, a third played lick at it with the lantern; this was +before they discovered that the dog had been Grizel imitating one, brave +Grizel, always ready to protect her mother, and never allowed to cherish +the childish fears that were hers by birthright. + +Tommy could not hear a sound from within, but he had startling proof +that Elspeth was near. His foot struck against something at the door, +and, stooping, he saw that it was a little bundle of the treasures she +valued most. So she had indeed come to stay with the Painted Lady if +Grizel proved merciless! Oh, what a black he had been! + +Though originally a farm-house, the cottage was no larger than Aaron's, +and of its two front windows only one showed a light, and that through a +blind. Tommy sidled round the house in the hope that the small east +window would be more hospitable, and just as he saw that it was +blindless something that had been crouching rose between him and it. + +"Let go!" he cried, feeling the Painted Lady's talons in his neck. + +"Tommy!" was the answer. + +"It's you, Elspeth?" + +"Is it you, Tommy?" + +"Of course. Whisht!" + +"But say it is." + +"It is." + +"Oh, Tommy, I'm so fleid!" + +He drew her farther from the window and told her it had all been a +wicked lie, and she was so glad that she forgot to chide him, but he +denounced himself, and he was better than Elspeth even at that. However, +when he learned what had brought her here he dried his eyes and skulked +to the door again and brought back her belongings, and then she wanted +him to come away at once. But the window fascinated him; he knew he +should never find courage to come here again, and he glided toward it, +signing to Elspeth to accompany him. They were now too near Double Dykes +for speaking to be safe, but he tapped his head as a warning to her to +remove her hat, for a woman's head-gear always reaches a window in front +of its wearer, and he touched his cold iron and passed it to her as if +it were a snuff-mull. Thus fortified, they approached the window +fearfully, holding hands and stepping high, like a couple in a minuet. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE PAINTED LADY + + +It had been the ordinary dwelling room of the unknown poor, the mean +little "end"--ah, no, no, the noblest chamber in the annals of the +Scottish nation. Here on a hard anvil has its character been fashioned +and its history made at rush-lights and its God ever most prominent. +Always within reach of hands which trembled with reverence as they +turned its broad page could be found the Book that is compensation for +all things, and that was never more at home than on bare dressers and +worm-eaten looms. If you were brought up in that place and have +forgotten it, there is no more hope for you. + +But though still recalling its past, the kitchen into which Tommy and +Elspeth peered was trying successfully to be something else. The +plate-rack had been a fixture, and the coffin-bed and the wooden bole, +or board in the wall, with its round hole through which you thrust your +hand when you wanted salt, and instead of a real mantelpiece there was a +quaint imitation one painted over the fireplace. There were some pieces +of furniture too, such as were usual in rooms of the kind, but most of +them, perhaps in ignorance, had been put to novel uses, like the +plate-rack, where the Painted Lady kept her many pretty shoes instead of +her crockery. Gossip said she had a looking-glass of such prodigious +size that it stood on the floor, and Tommy nudged Elspeth to signify, +"There it is!" Other nudges called her attention to the carpet, the +spinet, a chair that rocked like a cradle, and some smaller oddities, of +which the queerest was a monster velvet glove hanging on the nail that +by rights belonged to the bellows. The Painted Lady always put on this +glove before she would touch the coals, which diverted Tommy, who knew +that common folk lift coals with their bare hands while society uses the +fringe of its second petticoat. + +It might have been a boudoir through which a kitchen and bedroom had +wandered, spilling by the way, but though the effect was tawdry, +everything had been rubbed clean by that passionate housewife, Grizel. +She was on her knees at present ca'ming the hearth-stone a beautiful +blue, and sometimes looking round to address her mother, who was busy +among her plants and cut flowers. Surely they were know-nothings who +called this woman silly, and blind who said she painted. It was a little +face all of one color, dingy pale, not chubby, but retaining the soft +contours of a child's face, and the features were singularly delicate. +She was clad in a soft gray, and her figure was of the smallest; there +was such an air of youth about her that Tommy thought she could become a +girl again by merely shortening her frock, not such a girl as gaunt +Grizel, though, who would have looked a little woman had she let her +frock down. In appearance indeed the Painted Lady resembled her plain +daughter not at all, but in manner in a score of ways, as when she +rocked her arms joyously at sight of a fresh bud or tossed her brown +hair from her brows with a pretty gesture that ought, God knows, to have +been for some man to love. The watchers could not hear what she and +Grizel said, but evidently it was pleasant converse, and mother and +child, happy in each other's company, presented a picture as sweet as it +is common, though some might have complained that they were doing each +other's work. But the Painted Lady's delight in flowers was a scandal in +Thrums, where she would stand her ground if the roughest boy approached +her with roses in his hand, and she gave money for them, which was one +reason why the people thought her daft. She was tending her flowers now +with experienced eye, smelling them daintily, and every time she touched +them it was a caress. + +The watchers retired into the field to compare impressions, and Elspeth +said emphatically, "I like her, Tommy, I'm not none fleid at her." + +Tommy had liked her also, but being a man he said, "You forget that +she's an ill one." + +"She looks as if she didna ken that hersel'," answered Elspeth, and +these words of a child are the best picture we can hope to get of the +Painted Lady. + +On their return to the window, they saw that Grizel had finished her +ca'ming and was now sitting on the floor nursing a doll. Tommy had not +thought her the kind to shut her eyes to the truth about dolls, but she +was hugging this one passionately. Without its clothes it was of the +nine-pin formation, and the painted eyes and mouth had been incorporated +long since in loving Grizel's system; but it became just sweet as she +swaddled it in a long yellow frock and slipped its bullet head into a +duck of a pink bonnet. These articles of attire and the others that you +begin with had all been made by Grizel herself out of the colored +tissue-paper that shopkeepers wrap round brandy bottles. The doll's name +was Griselda, and it was exactly six months old, and Grizel had found +it, two years ago, lying near the Coffin Brig, naked and almost dead. + +It was making the usual fuss at having its clothes put on, and Grizel +had to tell it frequently that of all the babies--which shamed it now +and again, but kept her so occupied that she forgot her mother. The +Painted Lady had sunk into the rocking-chair, and for a time she amused +herself with it, but by and by it ceased to rock, and as she sat looking +straight before her a change came over her face. Elspeth's hand +tightened its clutch on Tommy's; the Painted Lady had begun to talk to +herself. + +She was not speaking aloud, for evidently Grizel, whose back was toward +her, heard nothing, but her lips moved and she nodded her head and +smiled and beckoned, apparently to the wall, and the childish face +rapidly became vacant and foolish. This mood passed, and now she was +sitting very still, only her head moving, as she looked in apprehension +and perplexity this way and that, like one who no longer knew where she +was, nor who was the child by the fire. When at last Grizel turned and +observed the change, she may have sighed, but there was no fear in her +face; the fear was on the face of her mother, who shrank from her in +unmistakable terror and would have screamed at a harsh word or a hasty +movement. Grizel seemed to know this, for she remained where she was, +and first she nodded and smiled reassuringly to her mother, and then, +leaning forward, took her hand and stroked it softly and began to talk. +She had laid aside her doll, and with the act become a woman again. + +The Painted Lady was soothed, but her bewildered look came and went, as +if she only caught at some explanation Grizel was making, to lose it in +a moment. Yet she seemed most eager to be persuaded. The little watchers +at this queer play saw that Grizel was saying things to her which she +repeated docilely and clung to and lost hold of. Often Grizel +illustrated her words by a sort of pantomime, as when she sat down on a +chair and placed the doll in her lap, then sat down on her mother's lap; +and when she had done this several times Tommy took Elspeth into the +field to say to her: + +"Do you no see? She means as she is the Painted Lady's bairn, just the +same as the doll is her bairn." + +If the Painted Lady needed to be told this every minute she was daft +indeed, and Elspeth could peer no longer at the eerie spectacle. To +leave Tommy, however, was equally difficult, so she crouched at his feet +when he returned to the window, drawn there hastily by the sound of +music. + +The Painted Lady could play on the spinet beautifully, but Grizel could +not play, though it was she who was trying to play now. She was running +her fingers over the notes, producing noises from them, while she swayed +grotesquely on her seat and made comic faces. Her object was to capture +her mother's mind, and she succeeded for a short time, but soon it +floated away from all control, and the Painted Lady fell a-shaking +violently. Then Grizel seemed to be alarmed, and her arms rocked +despairingly, but she went to her mother and took loving hold of her, +and the woman clung to her child in a way pitiful to see. She was on +Grizel's knee now, but she still shivered as if in a deadly chill, and +her feet rattled on the floor, and her arms against the sides of the +chair. Grizel pinned the trembling arms with her own and twisted her +legs round her mother's, and still the Painted Lady's tremors shook +them both, so that to Tommy they were as two people wrestling. + +The shivering slowly lessened and at last ceased, but this seemed to +make Grizel no less unhappy. To her vehement attempt to draw her +mother's attention she got no response; the Painted Lady was hearkening +intently for some sound other than Grizel's voice, and only once did she +look at her child. Then it was with cruel, ugly eyes, and at the same +moment she shoved Grizel aside so viciously that it was almost a blow. +Grizel sat down sorrowfully beside her doll, like one aware that she +could do no more, and her mother at once forgot her. What was she +listening for so eagerly? Was it for the gallop of a horse? Tommy +strained his ears. + +"Elspeth--speak low--do you hear anything?" + +"No; I'm ower fleid to listen." + +"Whisht! do you no hear a horse?" + +"No, everything's terrible still. Do you hear a horse?" + +"I--I think I do, but far awa'." + +His imagination was on fire. Did he hear a distant galloping or did he +only make himself hear it? He had bent his head, and Elspeth, looking +affrighted into his face, whispered, "I hear it too, oh, Tommy, so do +I!" + +And the Painted Lady had heard it. She kissed her hand toward the Den +several times, and each time Tommy seemed to hear that distant +galloping. All the sweetness had returned to her face now, and with it a +surging joy, and she rocked her arms exultantly, but quickly controlled +them lest Grizel should see. For evidently Grizel must be cheated, and +so the Painted Lady became very sly. She slipped off her shoes to be +able to make her preparations noiselessly, and though at all other times +her face expressed the rapture of love, when she glanced at her child it +was suspiciously and with a gleam of hatred. Her preparations were for +going out. She was long at the famous mirror, and when she left it her +hair was elaborately dressed and her face so transformed that first +Tommy exclaimed "Bonny!" and then corrected himself with a scornful +"Paint!" On her feet she put a foolish little pair of red shoes, on her +head a hat too gay with flowers, and across her shoulders a flimsy white +shawl at which the night air of Thrums would laugh. Her every movement +was light and cautious and accompanied by side-glances at Grizel, who +occasionally looked at her, when the Painted Lady immediately pretended +to be tending her plants again. She spoke to Grizel sweetly to deceive +her, and shot baleful glances at her next moment. Tommy saw that Grizel +had taken up her doll once more and was squeezing it to her breast. She +knew very well what was going on behind her back. + +Suddenly Tommy took to his heels, Elspeth after him. He had seen the +Painted Lady coming on her tip-toes to the window. They saw the window +open and a figure in a white shawl creep out of it, as she had doubtless +escaped long ago by another window when the door was barred. They lost +sight of her at once. + +"What will Grizel do now?" Tommy whispered, and he would have returned +to his watching place, but Elspeth pointed to the window. Grizel was +there closing it, and next moment the lamp was extinguished. They heard +a key turn in the lock, and presently Grizel, carrying warm wraps, +passed very near them and proceeded along the double dykes, not anxious +apparently to keep her mother in view, but slowly, as if she knew where +to find her. She went into the Den, where Tommy dared not follow her, +but he listened at the stile and in the awful silence he fancied he +heard the neighing of a horse. + +The next time he met Grizel he was yearning to ask her how she spent +that night, but he knew she would not answer; it would be a long time +before she gave him her confidence again. He offered her his piece of +cold iron, however, and explained why he carried it, whereupon she flung +it across the road, crying, "You horrid boy, do you think I am +frightened at my mamma!" But when he was out of sight she came back and +slipped the cold iron into her pocket. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +IN WHICH TOMMY SOLVES THE WOMAN PROBLEM + + +Pity made Elspeth want to like the Painted Lady's child now, but her own +rules of life were all from a book never opened by Grizel, who made her +religion for herself and thought God a swear; she also despised Elspeth +for being so dependent on Tommy, and Elspeth knew it. The two great +subjects being barred thus, it was not likely that either girl, despite +some attempts on Elspeth's part, should find out the best that was in +the other, without which friendship has no meaning, and they would have +gone different ways had not Tommy given an arm to each. He, indeed, had +as little in common with Grizel, for most conspicuous of his traits was +the faculty of stepping into other people's shoes and remaining there +until he became someone else; his individuality consisted in having +none, while she could only be herself and was without tolerance for +those who were different; he had at no time in his life the least desire +to make other persons like himself, but if they were not like Grizel she +rocked her arms and cried, "Why, why, why?" which is the mark of the +"womanly" woman. But his tendency to be anyone he was interested in +implied enormous sympathy (for the time being), and though Grizel +spurned his overtures, this only fired his pride of conquest. We can all +get whatever we want if we are quite determined to have it (though it be +a king's daughter), and in the end Tommy vanquished Grizel. How? By +offering to let her come into Aaron's house and wash it and dust it and +ca'm it, "just as if you were our mother," an invitation she could not +resist. To you this may seem an easy way, but consider the penetration +he showed in thinking of it. It came to him one day when he saw her lift +the smith's baby out of the gutter, and hug it with a passionate delight +in babies. + +"She's so awid to do it," he said basely to Elspeth, "that we needna let +on how much we want it done." And he also mentioned her eagerness to +Aaron as a reason why she should be allowed to do it for nothing. + +For Aaron to hold out against her admittance would have been to defraud +himself, for she transformed his house. When she saw the brass lining of +the jelly-pan discolored, and that the stockings hanging from the string +beneath the mantelpiece had given way where the wearers were hardest on +them; when she found dripping adhering to a cold frying-pan instead of +in a "pig," and the pitcher leaking and the carrot-grater stopped--when +these and similar discoveries were made by Grizel, was it a squeal of +horror she gave that such things should be, or a cry of rapture because +to her had fallen the task of setting them right? + +"She just made a jump for the besom," was Tommy's graphic description of +how it all began. + +You should have seen Grizel on the hoddy-table knocking nails into the +wall. The hoddy-table is so called because it goes beneath the larger +one at night, like a chicken under its mother, and Grizel, with the +nails in her mouth, used them up so quickly that you would have sworn +she swallowed half of them; yet she rocked her arms because she could +not be at all four walls at once. She rushed about the room until she +was dizzy, and Tommy knew the moment to cry "Grip her, she'll tumble!" +when he and Elspeth seized her and put her on a stool. + +It is on the hoddy-table that you bake and iron. "There's not a +baking-board in the house," Elspeth explained. "There is!" cried Grizel, +there and then converting a drawer into one. + +Between her big bannocks she made baby ones, for no better reason than +that she was so fond of babies, and she kissed the baby ones and said, +"Oh, the loves, they are just sweet!" and she felt for them when Tommy +took a bite. She could go so quickly between the board and the girdle +that she was always at one end of the course or the other, but never +gave you time to say at which end, and on the limited space round the +fire she could balance such a number of bannocks that they were as much +a wonder as the Lord's prayer written on a sixpence. Such a vigilant eye +she kept on them, too, that they dared not fall. Yet she had never been +taught to bake; a good-natured neighbor had now and again allowed her to +look on. + +Then her ironing! Even Aaron opened his mouth on this subject, Blinder +being his confidant. "I thought there was a smell o' burning," he said, +"and so I went butt the house; but man, as soon as my een lighted on her +I minded of my mother at the same job. The crittur was so busy with her +work that she looked as if, though the last trumpet had blawn, she would +just have cried, 'I canna come till my ironing's done!' Ay, I went ben +without a word." + +But best of all was to see Grizel "redding up" on a Saturday afternoon. +Where were Tommy and Elspeth then? They were shut up in the coffin-bed +to be out of the way, and could scarce have told whether they fled +thither or were wrapped into it by her energetic arms. Even Aaron dared +not cross the floor until it was sanded. "I believe," he said, trying to +jest, "you would like to shut me up in the bed too!" "I should just love +it," she cried, eagerly; "will you go?" It is an inferior woman who has +a sense of humor when there is a besom in her hand. + +Thus began great days to Grizel, "sweet" she called them, for she had +many of her mother's words, and a pretty way of emphasizing them with +her plain face that turned them all into superlatives. But though Tommy +and Elspeth were her friends now, her mouth shut obstinately the moment +they mentioned the Painted Lady; she regretted ever having given Tommy +her confidence on that subject, and was determined not to do so again. +He did not dare tell her that he had once been at the east window of her +home, but often he and Elspeth spoke to each other of that adventure, +and sometimes they woke in their garret bed thinking they heard the +horseman galloping by. Then they crept closer to each other, and +wondered whether Grizel was cosey in her bed or stalking an eerie figure +in the Den. + +Aaron said little, but he was drawn to the girl, who had not the +self-consciousness of Tommy and Elspeth in his presence, and sometimes +he slipped a penny into her hand. The pennies were not spent, they were +hoarded for the fair, or Muckle Friday, or Muckley, great day of the +year in Thrums. If you would know how Tommy was making ready for this +mighty festival, listen. + +One of his sources of income was the _Mentor_, a famous London weekly +paper, which seemed to visitors to be taken in by every person of +position in Thrums. It was to be seen not only in parlors, but on the +armchair at the Jute Bank, in the gauger's gig, in the Spittal factor's +dog-cart, on a shoemaker's form, protruding from Dr. McQueen's tail +pocket and from Mr. Duthie's oxter pocket, on Cathro's school-desk, in +the Rev. Mr. Dishart's study, in half a dozen farms. Miss Ailie +compelled her little servant, Gavinia, to read the _Mentor_, and stood +over her while she did it; the phrase, "this week's," meant this week's +_Mentor_. Yet the secret must be told: only one copy of the paper came +to Thrums weekly; it was subscribed for by the whole reading public +between them, and by Miss Ailie's influence Tommy had become the boy who +carried it from house to house. + +This brought him a penny a week, but so heavy were his incidental +expenses that he could have saved little for the Muckley had not another +organization given him a better chance. It was a society, newly started, +for helping the deserving poor; they had to subscribe not less than a +penny weekly to it, and at the end of the year each subscriber was to be +given fuel, etc., to the value of double what he or she had put in. "The +three Ps" was a nickname given to the society by Dr. McQueen, because it +claimed to distribute "Peats and Potatoes with Propriety," but he was +one of its heartiest supporters nevertheless. The history of this +society in the first months of its existence not only shows how Tommy +became a moneyed man, but gives a glimpse into the character of those it +benefited. + +Miss Ailie was treasurer, and the pennies were to be brought to her on +Monday evenings between the hours of seven and eight. The first Monday +evening found her ready in the school-room, in her hand the famous +pencil that wrote red with the one end and blue with the other; by her +side her assistant, Mr. T. Sandys, a pen balanced on his ear. For a +whole hour did they wait, but though many of the worthiest poor had been +enrolled as members, the few who appeared with their pennies were +notoriously riff-raff. At eight Miss Ailie disconsolately sent Tommy +home, but he was back in five minutes. + +"There's a mask of them," he told her, excitedly, "hanging about, but +feared to come in because the others would see them. They're ashamed to +have it kent that they belong to a charity society, and Meggy Robbie is +wandering round the Dovecot wi' her penny wrapped in a paper, and Watty +Rattray and Ronny-On is walking up and down the brae pretending they +dinna ken one another, and auld Connacher's Jeanie Ann says she has been +four times round the town waiting for Kitty Elshioner to go away, and +there's a one-leggit man hodding in the ditch, and Tibbie Birse is out +wi' a lantern counting them." + +Miss Ailie did not know what to do. "Here's Jeanie Ann's penny," Tommy +continued, opening his hand, "and this is three bawbees frae Kitty +Elshioner and you and me is no to tell a soul they've joined." + +A furtive tapping was heard at the door. It was Ronny-On, who had +skulked forward with twopence, but Gavinia answered his knock, so he +just said, "Ay, Gavinia, it's yoursel'. Well, I'll be stepping," and +would have retired had not Miss Ailie caught him. Even then he said, +"Three bawbees is to you to lay by, and one bawbee to Gavinia no to +tell." + +To next Monday evening Miss Ailie now looked with apprehension, but +Tommy lay awake that night until, to use a favorite crow of his, he +"found a way." He borrowed the school-mistress's blue-and-red pencil and +sought the houses of the sensitive poor with the following effect. One +sample will suffice; take him at the door of Meggy Robbie in the West +Muir, which he flung open with the effrontery of a tax-collector. + +"You're a three P," he said, with a wave of his pencil. + +"I'm no sic thing!" cried the old lady. + +"It winna do, woman," Tommy said sternly. "Miss Ailie telled me you paid +in your first penny on the chap of ten." He wetted the pencil on his +tongue to show that it was vain to trifle with him, and Meggy bowed her +head. + +"It'll be through the town that I've joined," she moaned, but Tommy +explained that he was there to save her. + +"I'm willing to come to your house," he said, "and collect the money +every week, and not a soul will I tell except the committee." + +"Kitty Elshioner would see you coming," said Meggy. + +"No, no, I'll creep yont the hedge and climb the hen-house." + +"But it would be a' found out at any rate," she remembered, "when I go +for the peats and things at Hogmanay." + +"It needna be," eagerly replied Tommy. "I'll bring them to you in a +barrow in the dead o' night." + +"Could you?" she cried passionately, and he promised he would, and it +may be mentioned here that he did. + +"And what for yoursel'?" she inquired. + +"A bawbee," he said, "the night afore the Muckley." + +The bargain was made, but before he could get away, "Tell me, laddie," +said Meggy, coaxingly, "has Kitty Elshioner joined?" They were all as +curious to know who had joined as they were anxious to keep their own +membership a secret; but Tommy betrayed none, at least none who agreed +to his proposal. There were so many of these that on the night before +the Muckley he had thirteen pence. + +"And you was doing good all the time you was making the thirteen pence," +Elspeth said, fondly. "I believe that was the reason you did it." + +"I believe it was!" Tommy exclaimed. He had not thought of this before, +but it was easy to him to believe anything. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE MUCKLEY + + +Every child in Thrums went to bed on the night before the Muckley +hugging a pirly, or, as the vulgar say, a money-box; and all the pirlies +were ready for to-morrow, that is to say, the mouths of them had been +widened with gully knives by owners now so skilful at the jerk which +sends their contents to the floor that pirlies they were no longer. +"Disgorge!" was the universal cry, or, in the vernacular, "Out you come, +you sweer deevils!" + +Not a coin but had its history, not a boy who was unable to pick out his +own among a hundred. The black one came from the 'Sosh, the bent lad he +got for carrying in Ronny-On's sticks. Oh michty me, sure as death he +had nearly forgotten the one with the warts on it. Which to spend first? +The goldy one? Na faags, it was ower ill to come by. The scartit one? +No, no, it was a lucky. Well, then, the one found in the rat's hole? +(That was a day!) Ay, dagont, ay, we'll make the first blatter with it. + +It was Tommy's first Muckley, and the report that he had thirteen pence +brought him many advisers about its best investment. Even Corp Shiach +(five pence) suspended hostilities for this purpose. "Mind this," he +said solemnly, "there's none o' the candies as sucks so long as +Californy's Teuch and Tasty. Other kinds may be sweeter, but Teuch and +Tasty lasts the longest, and what a grip it has! It pulls out your +teeth!" Corp seemed to think that this was a recommendation. + +"I'm nane sure o' Teuch and Tasty," Birkie said. "If you dinna keep a +watch on it, it slips ower when you're swallowing your spittle." + +"Then you should tie a string to it," suggested Tommy, who was thought +more of from that hour. + +_Beware of Pickpockets!_ Had it not been for placards with this glorious +announcement (it is the state's first printed acknowledgment that boys +and girls form part of the body politic) you might have thought that the +night before the Muckley was absurdly like other nights. Not a show had +arrived, not a strange dog, no romantic figures were wandering the +streets in search of lodgings, no stands had sprung up in the square. +You could pass hours in pretending to fear that when the morning came +there would be no fairyland. And all the time you _knew_. + +About ten o'clock Ballingall's cat was observed washing its face, a +deliberate attempt to bring on rain. It was immediately put to death. + +Tommy and Elspeth had agreed to lie awake all night; if Tommy nipped +Elspeth, Elspeth would nip Tommy. Other children had made the same +arrangement, though the experienced ones were aware that it would fail. +If it was true that all the witches were dead, then the streets of +stands and shows and gaming-tables and shooting-galleries were erected +by human hands, and it followed that were you to listen through the +night you must hear the hammers. But always in the watches the god of +the Muckley came unseen and glued your eyes, as if with Teuch and Tasty, +and while you slept--Up you woke with a start. What was it you were to +mind as soon as you woke? Listen! That's a drum beating! It's the +Muckley! They are all here! It has begun! Oh, michty, michty, michty, +whaur's my breeks? + +When Tommy, with Elspeth and Grizel, set off excitedly for the town, the +country folk were already swarming in. The Monypenny road was thick with +them, braw loons in blue bonnets with red bobs to them, tartan +waistcoats, scarves of every color, woollen shirts as gay, and the +strutting wearers in two minds--whether to take off the scarf to display +the shirt, or hide the shirt and trust to the scarf. Came lassies, too, +in wincey bodices they were like to burst through, and they were +listening apprehensively as they ploughed onward for a tearing at the +seams. There were red-headed lasses, yellow-chy-headed and black-headed, +blue-shawled and red-shawled lasses; boots on every one of them, +stockings almost as common, the skirt kilted up for the present, but +down it should go when they were in the thick of things, and then it +must take care of itself. All were solemn and sheepish as yet, but wait +a bit. + +The first-known face our three met was Corp. He was only able to sign to +them, because Californy's specialty had already done its work and glued +his teeth together. He was off to the smithy to be melted, but gave them +to understand that though awkward it was glorious. Then came Birkie, who +had sewn up the mouths of his pockets, all but a small slit in each, as +a precaution against pickpockets, and was now at his own request being +held upside down by the Haggerty-Taggertys on the chance that a +halfpenny which had disappeared mysteriously might fall out. A more +tragic figure was Francie Crabb (one and seven pence), who, like a mad, +mad thing, had taken all his money to the fair at once. In ten minutes +he had bought fourteen musical instruments. + +Tommy and party had not yet reached the celebrated corner of the west +town end where the stands began, but they were near it, and he stopped +to give Grizel and Elspeth his final instructions: "(1) Keep your money +in your purse, and your purse in your hand, and your hand in your +pocket; (2) if you lose me, I'll give Shovel's whistle, and syne you +maun squeeze and birse your way back to me." + +Now then, are you ready? Bang! They were in it. Strike up, ye fiddlers; +drums, break; tooters, fifers, at it for your lives; trumpets, blow; +bagpipes, skirl; music-boxes, all together now--Tommy has arrived. + +Even before he had seen Thrums, except with his mother's eye, Tommy knew +that the wise begin the Muckley by measuring its extent. That the square +and adjoining wynds would be crammed was a law of nature, but boyhood +drew imaginary lines across the Roods, the west town end, the east town +end, and the brae, and if the stands did not reach these there had been +retrogression. Tommy found all well in two quarters, got a nasty shock +on the brae, but medicine for it in the Roods; on the whole, yelled a +hundred children, by way of greeting to each other, a better Muckley +than ever. + +From those who loved them best, the more notable Muckleys got +distinctive names for convenience of reference. As shall be +ostentatiously shown in its place, there was a Muckley called (and by +Corp Shiach, too) after Tommy, but this, his first, was dubbed Sewster's +Muckley, in honor of a seamstress who hanged herself that day in the +Three-cornered Wood. Poor little sewster, she had known joyous Muckleys +too, but now she was up in the Three-cornered Wood hanging herself, aged +nineteen. I know nothing more of her, except that in her maiden days +when she left the house her mother always came to the door to look +proudly after her. + +How to describe the scene, when owing to the throng a boy could only +peer at it between legs or through the crook of a woman's arm? Shovel +would have run up ploughmen to get his bird's-eye view, and he could +have told Tommy what he saw, and Tommy could have made a picture of it +in his mind, every figure ten feet high. But perhaps to be lost in it +was best. You had but to dive and come up anywhere to find something +amazing; you fell over a box of jumping-jacks into a new world. + +Everyone to his taste. If you want Tommy's sentiments, here they are, +condensed: "The shows surpass everything else on earth. Four streets of +them in the square! The best is the menagerie, because there is the +loudest roaring there. Kick the caravans and you increase the roaring. +Admission, however, prohibitive (threepence). More economical to stand +outside the show of the 'Mountain Maid and the Shepherd's Bride' and +watch the merriman saying funny things to the monkey. Take care you +don't get in front of the steps, else you will be pressed up by those +behind and have to pay before you have decided that you want to go in. +When you fling pennies at the Mountain Maid and the Shepherd's Bride +they stop play-acting and scramble for them. Go in at night when there +are drunk ploughmen to fling pennies. The Fat Wife with the Golden Locks +lets you put your fingers in her arms, but that is soon over. 'The +Slave-driver and his Victims.' Not worth the money; they are not +blooding. To Jerusalem and Back in a Jiffy. This is a swindle. You just +keek through holes." + +But Elspeth was of a different mind. She liked To Jerusalem and Back +best, and gave the Slave-driver and his Victims a penny to be +Christians. The only show she disliked was the wax-work, where was +performed the "Tragedy of Tiffano and the Haughty Princess." Tiffano +loved the woodman's daughter, and so he would not have the Haughty +Princess, and so she got a magician to turn him into a pumpkin, and then +she ate him. What distressed Elspeth was that Tiffano could never get to +heaven now, and all the consolation Tommy, doing his best, could give +her was, "He could go, no doubt he could go, but he would have to take +the Haughty Princess wi' him, and he would be sweer to do that." + +Grizel reflected: "If I had a whip like the one the Slave-driver has +shouldn't I lash the boys who hoot my mamma! I wish I could turn boys +into pumpkins. The Mountain Maid wore a beautiful muslin with gold lace, +but she does not wash her neck." + +Lastly, let Corp have his say: "I looked at the outside of the shows, +but always landed back at Californy's stand. Sucking is better nor near +anything. The Teuch and Tasty is stickier than ever. I have lost twa +teeth. The Mountain Maid is biding all night at Tibbie Birse's, and I +went in to see her. She had a bervie and a boiled egg to her tea. She +likes her eggs saft wi' a lick of butter in them. The Fat Wife is the +one I like best. She's biding wi' Shilpit Kaytherine on the Tanage Brae. +She weighs Jeems and Kaytherine and the sma' black swine. She had an +ingin to her tea. The Slave-driver's a fushinless body. One o' the +Victims gives him his licks. They a' bide in the caravan. You can stand +on the wheel and keek in. They had herrings wi' the rans to their tea. I +cut a hole in Jerusalem and Back, and there was no Jerusalem there. The +man as ocht Jerusalem greets because the Fair Circassian winna take him. +He is biding a' night wi' Blinder. He likes a dram in his tea." + +Elspeth's money lasted till four o'clock. For Aaron, almost the only man +in Thrums who shunned the revels that day, she bought a gingerbread +house; and the miraculous powder which must be taken on a sixpence was +to make Blinder see again, but unfortunately he forgot about putting it +on the sixpence. And of course there was something for a certain boy. +Grizel had completed her purchases by five o'clock, when Tommy was still +heavy with threepence halfpenny. They included a fluffy pink shawl, she +did not say for whom, but the Painted Lady wore it afterwards, and for +herself another doll. + +"But that doll's leg is broken," Tommy pointed out. + +"That was why I bought it," she said warmly, "I feel so sorry for it, +the darling," and she carried it carefully so that the poor thing might +suffer as little pain as possible. + +Twice they rushed home for hasty meals, and were back so quickly that +Tommy's shadow strained a muscle in turning with him. Night came on, +and from a hundred strings stretched along stands and shows there now +hung thousands of long tin things like trumpets. One burning paper could +set a dozen of these ablaze, and no sooner were they lit than a wind +that had been biding its time rushed in like the merriman, making the +lamps swing on their strings, so that the flaring lights embraced, and +from a distance Thrums seemed to be on fire. + +Even Grizel was willing to hold Tommy's hand now, and the three could +only move this way and that as the roaring crowd carried them. They were +not looking at the Muckley, they were part of it, and at last Thrums was +all Tommy's fancy had painted it. This intoxicated him, so that he had +to scream at intervals, "We're here, Elspeth, I tell you, we're here!" +and he became pugnacious and asked youths twice his size whether they +denied that he was here, and if so, would they come on. In this frenzy +he was seen by Miss Ailie, who had stolen out in a veil to look for +Gavinia, but just as she was about to reprove him, dreadful men asked +her was she in search of a lad, whereupon she fled home and barred the +door, and later in the evening warned Gavinia, through the key-hole, +taking her for a roystering blade, that there were policemen in the +house, to which the astounding reply of Gavinia, then aged twelve, was, +"No sic luck." + +With the darkness, too, crept into the Muckley certain devils in the +color of the night who spoke thickly and rolled braw lads in the mire, +and egged on friends to fight and cast lewd thoughts into the minds of +the women. At first the men had been bashful swains. To the women's "Gie +me my faring, Jock," they had replied, "Wait, Jean, till I'm fee'd," but +by night most had got their arles, with a dram above it, and he who +could only guffaw at Jean a few hours ago had her round the waist now, +and still an arm free for rough play with other kimmers. The Jeans were +as boisterous as the Jocks, giving them leer for leer, running from them +with a giggle, waiting to be caught and rudely kissed. Grand, patient, +long-suffering fellows these men were, up at five, summer and winter, +foddering their horses, maybe hours before there would be food for +themselves, miserably paid, housed like cattle, and when the rheumatism +seized them, liable to be flung aside like a broken graip. As hard was +the life of the women: coarse food, chaff beds, damp clothes, their +portion; their sweethearts in the service of masters who were reluctant +to fee a married man. Is it to be wondered that these lads who could be +faithful unto death drank soddenly on their one free day, that these +girls, starved of opportunities for womanliness, of which they could +make as much as the finest lady, sometimes woke after a Muckley to wish +that they might wake no more? Our three brushed shoulders with the +devils that had been let loose, but hardly saw them; they heard them, +but did not understand their tongue. The eight-o'clock bell had rung +long since, and though the racket was as great as ever, it was only +because every reveller left now made the noise of two. Mothers were out +fishing for their bairns. The Haggerty-Taggertys had straggled home +hoarse as crows; every one of them went to bed that night with a +stocking round his throat. Of Monypenny boys, Tommy could find none in +the square but Corp, who, with another tooth missing, had been going +about since six o'clock with his pockets hanging out, as a sign that all +was over. An awkward silence had fallen on the trio; the reason, that +Tommy had only threepence left and the smallest of them cost threepence. +The reference of course is to the wondrous gold-paper packets of sweets +(not unlike crackers in appearance) which are only seen at the Muckley, +and are what every girl claims of her lad or lads. Now, Tommy had vowed +to Elspeth--But he had also said to Grizel--In short, how could he buy +for both with threepence? + +Grizel, as the stranger, ought to get--But he knew Elspeth too well to +believe that she would dry her eyes with that. + +Elspeth being his sister--But he had promised Grizel, and she had been +so ill brought up that she said nasty things when you broke your word. + +The gold packet was bought. That is it sticking out of Tommy's inside +pocket. The girls saw it and knew what was troubling him, but not a +word was spoken now between the three. They set off for home +self-consciously, Tommy the least agitated on the whole, because he need +not make up his mind for another ten minutes. But he wished Grizel would +not look at him sideways and then rock her arms in irritation. They +passed many merry-makers homeward bound, many of them following a +tortuous course, for the Scottish toper gives way first in the legs, the +Southron in the other extremity, and thus between them could be +constructed a man wholly sober and another as drunk as Chloe. But though +the highway clattered with many feet, not a soul was in the double +dykes, and at the easy end of that formidable path Grizel came to a +determined stop. + +"Good-night," she said, with such a disdainful glance at Tommy. + +He had not made up his mind yet, but he saw that it must be done now, +and to take a decisive step was always agony to him, though once taken +it ceased to trouble. To dodge it for another moment he said, weakly: +"Let's--let's sit down a whiley on the dyke." + +But Grizel, while coveting the packet, because she had never got a +present in her life, would not shilly-shally. + +"Are you to give it to Elspeth?" she asked, with the horrid directness +that is so trying to an intellect like Tommy's. + +"N-no," he said. + +"To Grizel?" cried Elspeth. + +"N-no," he said again. + +It was an undignified moment for a great boy, but the providence that +watched over Tommy until it tired of him came to his aid in the nick of +time. It took the form of the Painted Lady, who appeared suddenly out of +the gloom of the Double Dykes. Two of the children jumped, and the third +clenched her little fists to defend her mamma if Tommy cast a word at +her. But he did not; his mouth remained foolishly open. The Painted Lady +had been talking cheerfully to herself, but she drew back +apprehensively, with a look of appeal on her face, and then--and then +Tommy "saw a way." He handed her the gold packet, "It's to you," he +said, "it's--it's your Muckley!" + +For a moment she was afraid to take it, but when she knew that this +sweet boy's gift was genuine, she fondled it and was greatly flattered, +and dropped him the quaintest courtesy and then looked defiantly at +Grizel. But Grizel did not take it from her. Instead, she flung her arms +impulsively round Tommy's neck, she was so glad, glad, glad. + +As Tommy and Elspeth walked away to their home, Elspeth could hear him +breathing heavily, and occasionally he gave her a furtive glance. + +"Grizel needna have done that," she said, sharply. + +"No," replied Tommy. + +"But it was noble of you," she continued, squeezing his hand, "to give +it to the Painted Lady. Did you mean to give it to her a' the time?" + +"Oh, Elspeth!" + +"But did you?" + +"Oh, Elspeth!" + +"That's no you greeting, is it?" she asked, softly. + +"I'm near the greeting," he said truthfully, "but I'm no sure what +about." His sympathy was so easily aroused that he sometimes cried +without exactly knowing why. + +"It's because you're so good," Elspeth told him; but presently she said, +with a complete change of voice, "No, Grizel needna have done that." + +"It was a shameful thing to do," Tommy agreed, shaking his head. "But +she did it!" he added triumphantly; "you saw her do it, Elspeth!" + +"But you didna like it?" Elspeth asked, in terror. + +"No, of course I didna like it, but--" + +"But what, Tommy?" + +"But I liked her to like it," he admitted, and by and by he began to +laugh hysterically. "I'm no sure what I'm laughing at," he said, "but I +think it's at mysel'." He may have laughed at himself before, but this +Muckley is memorable as the occasion on which he first caught himself +doing it. The joke grew with the years, until sometimes he laughed in +his most emotional moments, suddenly seeing himself in his true light. +But it had become a bitter laugh by that time. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +CORP IS BROUGHT TO HEEL--GRIZEL DEFIANT + + +Corp Shiach was a bare-footed colt of a boy, of ungainly build, with a +nose so thick and turned up that it was a certificate of character, and +his hands were covered with warts, which he had a trick of biting till +they bled. Then he rubbed them on his trousers, which were the +picturesque part of him, for he was at present "serving" to the masons +(he had "earned his keep" since long before he could remember), and so +wore the white or yellow ducks which the dust of the quarry stains a +rarer orange color than is known elsewhere. The orange of the masons' +trousers, the blue of the hearthstones, these are the most beautiful +colors to be seen in Thrums, though of course Corp was unaware of it. He +was really very good-natured, and only used his fists freely because of +imagination he had none, and thinking made him sweat, and consequently +the simplest way of proving his case was to say, "I'll fight you." What +might have been the issue of a conflict between him and Shovel was a +problem for Tommy to puzzle over. Shovel was as quick as Corp was +deliberate, and would have danced round him, putting in unexpected +ones, but if he had remained just one moment too long within Corp's +reach-- + +They nicknamed him Corp because he took fits, when he lay like one dead. +He was proud of his fits, was Corp, but they were a bother to him, too, +because he could make so little of them. They interested doctors and +other carriage folk, who came to his aunt's house to put their fingers +into him, and gave him sixpence, and would have given him more, but when +they pressed him to tell them what he remembered about his fits, he +could only answer dejectedly, "Not a damned thing." + +"You might as well no have them ava," his wrathful aunt, with whom he +lived, would say, and she thrashed him until his size forbade it. + +Soon after the Muckley came word that the Lady of the Spittal was to be +brought to see Corp by Mr. Ogilvy, the school-master of Glen Quharity, +and at first Corp boasted of it, but as the appointed day drew near he +became uneasy. + +"The worst o't," he said to anyone who would listen, "is that my auntie +is to be away frae hame, and so they'll put a' their questions to me." + +The Haggerty-Taggertys and Birkie were so jealous that they said they +were glad _they_ never had fits, but Tommy made no such pretence. + +"Oh, Corp, if I had thae fits of yours!" he exclaimed greedily. + +"If they were mine to give awa'," replied Corp sullenly, "you could +have them and welcome." Grown meek in his trouble, he invited Tommy to +speak freely, with the result that his eyes were partially opened to the +superiority of that boy's attainments. Tommy told him a number of +interesting things to say to Mr. Ogilvy and the lady about his fits, +about how queer he felt just before they came on, and the visions he had +while he was lying stiff. But though the admiring Corp gave attentive +ear, he said hopelessly next day, "Not a dagont thing do I mind. When +they question me about my fits I'll just say I'm sometimes in them and +sometimes out o' them, and if they badger me more, I can aye kick." + +Tommy gave him a look that meant, "Fits are just wasted on you," and +Corp replied with another that meant, "I ken they are." Then they +parted, one of them to reflect. + +"Corp," he said excitedly, when next they met, "has Mr. Ogilvy or the +lady ever come to see you afore?" + +They had not, and Corp was able to swear that they did not even know him +by sight. + +"They dinna ken me either," said Tommy. + +"What does that matter?" asked Corp, but Tommy was too full to speak. He +had "found a way." + +The lady and Mr. Ogilvy found Corp such a success that the one gave him +a shilling and the other took down his reminiscences in a note-book. But +if you would hear of the rings of blue and white and yellow Corp saw, +and of the other extraordinary experiences he described himself as +having when in a fit, you need not search that note-book, for the page +has been torn out. Instead of making inquiries of Mr. Ogilvy, try any +other dominie in the district, Mr. Cathro, for instance, who delighted +to tell the tale. This of course was when it leaked out that Tommy had +personated Corp, by arrangement with the real Corp, who was listening in +rapture beneath the bed. + +Tommy, who played his part so well that he came out of it in a daze, had +Corp at heel from that hour. He told him what a rogue he had been in +London, and Corp cried admiringly, "Oh, you deevil! oh, you queer little +deevil!" and sometimes it was Elspeth who was narrator, and then Tommy's +noble acts were the subject; but still Corp's comment was "Oh, the +deevil! oh, the queer little deevil!" Elspeth was flattered by his +hero-worship, but his language shocked her, and after consulting Miss +Ailie she advised him to count twenty when he felt an oath coming, at +the end of which exercise the desire to swear would have passed away. +Good-natured Corp willingly promised to try this, but he was never +hopeful, and as he explained to Tommy, after a failure, "It just made me +waur than ever, for when I had counted the twenty I said a big Damn, +thoughtful-like, and syne out jumpit three little damns, like as if the +first ane had cleckit in my mouth." + +It was fortunate that Elspeth liked Corp on the whole, for during the +three years now to be rapidly passed over, Tommy took delight in his +society, though he never treated him as an equal; Corp indeed did not +expect that, and was humbly grateful for what he got. In summer, fishing +was their great diversion. They would set off as early as four in the +morning, fishing wands in hand, and scour the world for trout, plodding +home in the gloaming with stones in their fishing-basket to deceive +those who felt its weight. In the long winter nights they liked best to +listen to Blinder's tales of the Thrums Jacobites, tales never put into +writing, but handed down from father to son, and proved true in the +oddest of ways, as by Blinder's trick of involuntarily holding out his +hands to a fire when he found himself near one, though he might be +sweating to the shirt and the time a July forenoon. "I make no doubt," +he told them, "as I do that because my forbear, Buchan Osler (called +Buchan wi' the Haap after the wars was ower), had to hod so lang frae +the troopers, and them so greedy for him that he daredna crawl to a fire +once in an eight days." + +The Lord of the Spittal and handsome Captain Body (whose being "out" +made all the women anxious) marched through the Den, flapping their +wings at the head of a fearsome retinue, and the Thrums folk looked so +glum at them that gay Captain Body said he should kiss every lass who +did not cheer for Charlie, and none cheered, but at the same time none +ran away. Few in Thrums cared a doit for Charlie, but some hung on +behind this troop till there was no turning back for them, and one of +these was Buchan. He forced his wife to give Captain Body a white rose +from her bush by the door, but a thorn in it pricked the gallant, and +the blood from his fingers fell on the bush, and from that year it grew +red roses. + +"If you dinna believe me," Blinder said, "look if the roses is no red on +the bush at Pyotdykes, which was a split frae Buchan's, and speir +whether they're no named the blood rose." + +"I believe you," Tommy would say breathlessly: "go on." + +Captain Body was back in the Den by and by, but he had no thought of +preeing lasses' mouths now. His face was scratched and haggard and his +gay coat torn, and when he crawled to the Cuttle Well he caught some of +the water in his bonnet and mixed meal with it, stirring the precious +compound with his finger and using the loof of his hand as a spoon. +Every stick of furniture Buchan and the other Thrums rebels possessed +was seized by the government and rouped in the market-place of Thrums, +but few would bid against the late owners, for whom the things were +secretly bought back very cheaply. + +To these and many similar stories Tommy listened open-mouthed, seeing +the scene far more vividly than the narrator, who became alarmed at his +quick, loud breathing, and advised him to forget them and go back to +his lessons. But his lessons never interested Tommy, and he would go +into the Den instead, and repeat Blinder's legends, with embellishments +which made them so real that Corp and Elspeth and Grizel were afraid to +look behind them lest the spectre of Captain Body should be standing +there, leaning on a ghostly sword. + +At such times Elspeth kept a firm grip of Tommy's hand, but one evening +as they all ran panic-stricken from some imaginary alarm, she lost him +near the Cuttle Well, and then, as it seemed to her, the Den became +suddenly very dark and lonely. At first she thought she had it to +herself, but as she stole timidly along the pink path she heard voices, +and she cried "Tommy!" joyously. But no answer came, so it could not be +Tommy. Then she thought it must be a pair of lovers, but next moment she +stood transfixed with fear, for it was the Painted Lady, who was coming +along the path talking aloud to herself. No, not to herself--to someone +she evidently thought was by her side; she called him darling and other +sweet names, and waited for his replies and nodded pleased assent to +them, or pouted at them, and terrified Elspeth knew that she was talking +to the man who never came. + +When she saw Elspeth she stopped irresolutely, and the two stood looking +in fear at each other. "You are not my brat, are you?" the Painted Lady +asked. + +"N-no," the child gasped. + +"Then why don't you call me nasty names?" + +"I dinna never call you names," Elspeth replied, but the woman still +looked puzzled. + +"Perhaps you are naughty also?" she said doubtfully, and then, as if +making up her mind that it must be so, she came closer and said, with a +voice full of pity: "I am so sorry." + +Elspeth did not understand half of it, but the pitying voice, which was +of the rarest sweetness, drove away much of her fear, and she said: "Do +you no mind me? I was wi' Tommy when he gave you the gold packet on +Muckley night." + +Then the Painted Lady remembered. "He took such a fancy to me," she +said, with a pleased simper, and then she looked serious again. + +"Do you love him?" she asked, and Elspeth nodded. + +"But is he all the world to you?" + +"Yes," Elspeth said. + +The Painted Lady took her by the arm and said impressively, "Don't let +him know." + +"But he does know," said Elspeth. + +"I am so sorry," the Painted Lady said again. "When they know too well, +then they have no pity." + +"But I want Tommy to know," Elspeth insisted. + +"That is the woeful thing," the Painted Lady said, rocking her arms in a +way that reminded the child of Grizel. "We want them to know, we cannot +help liking them to know!" + +Suddenly she became confidential. "Do you think I showed my love too +openly?" she asked eagerly. "I tried to hide it, you know. I covered my +face with my hands, but he pulled them away, and then, of course, he +knew." + +She went on, "I kissed his horse's nose, and he said I did that because +it was his horse. How could he know? When I asked him how he knew, he +kissed me, and I pretended to be angry and ran away. But I was not +angry, and I said to myself, 'I am glad, I am glad, I am glad!' + +"I wanted so to be good, but--It is so difficult to refuse when you +love him very much, don't you think?" + +The pathos of that was lost on the girl, and the Painted Lady continued +sadly: "It would be so nice, would it not, if they liked us to be good? +I think it would be sweet." She bent forward and whispered emphatically, +"But they don't, you know--it bores them. + +"Never bore them--and they are so easily bored! It bores them if you say +you want to be married. I think it would be sweet to be married, but you +should never ask for a wedding. They give you everything else, but if +you say you want a wedding, they stamp their feet and go away. Why are +you crying, girl? You should not cry; they don't like it. Put on your +prettiest gown and laugh and pretend you are happy, and then they will +tell you naughty stories and give you these." She felt her ears and +looked at her fingers, on which there may once have been jewels, but +there were none now. + +"If you cry you lose your complexion, and then they don't love you any +more. I had always such a beautiful skin. Some ladies when they lose +their complexion paint. Horrid, isn't it? I wonder they can do such a +thing." + +She eyed Elspeth suspiciously. "But of course you might do it just a +little," she said, pleadingly--"just to make them go on loving you, +don't you think? + +"When they don't want to come any more they write you a letter, and you +run with it to your room and kiss it, because you don't know what is +inside. Then you open it, and that breaks your heart, you know." She +nodded her head sagaciously and smiled with tears in her eyes. "Never, +never, never open the letter. Keep it unopened on your breast, and then +you can always think that he may come to-morrow. And if--" + +Someone was approaching, and she stopped and listened. "My brat!" she +cried, furiously, "she is always following me," and she poured forth a +torrent of filthy abuse of Grizel, in the midst of which Tommy (for it +was he) appeared and carried Elspeth off hastily. This was the only +conversation either child ever had with the Painted Lady, and it bore +bad fruit for Grizel. Elspeth told some of the Monypenny women about it, +and they thought it their duty to point out to Aaron that the Painted +Lady and her child were not desirable acquaintances for Tommy and +Elspeth. + +"I dinna ken," he answered sharply, "whether Tommy's a fit acquaintance +for Grizel, but I'm very sure o' this, that she's more than a fit +acquaintance for him. And look at what she has done for this house. I +kenna what we should do if she didna come in nows and nans." + +"You ken well, Aaron," they said, "that onything we could do in the way +o' keeping your house in order we should do gladly." + +"Thank you," he replied ungraciously, "but I would rather have her." + +Nevertheless he agreed that he ought to forbid any intercourse with the +Painted Lady, and unfortunately Grizel heard of this. Probably there +never would have been any such intercourse; Grizel guarded against it +more than anyone, for reasons she never spoke of, but she resented this +veto proudly. + +"Why must you not speak to my mamma?" she demanded of Tommy and Elspeth. + +"Because--because she is a queer one," he said. + +"She is not a queer one--she is just sweet." + +He tried to evade the question by saying weakly, "We never see her to +speak to at any rate, so it will make no difference. It's no as if you +ever asked us to come to Double Dykes." + +"But I ask you now," said Grizel, with flashing eyes. + +"Oh, I darena!" cried Elspeth. + +"Then I won't ever come into your house again," said Grizel, decisively. + +"No to redd up?" asked Tommy, incredulously. "No to bake nor to iron? +You couldna help it." + +"Yes I could." + +"Think what you'll miss!" + +Grizel might have retorted, "Think what you will miss!" but perhaps the +reply she did make had a sharper sting in it. "I shall never come +again," she said loftily, "and my reason for not coming is that--that my +mamma thinks your house is not respectable!" She flung this over her +shoulder as she stalked away, and it may be that the tears came when +there were none to see them, but hers was a resolute mind, and though +she continued to be friendly with Tommy and Elspeth out of doors she +never again crossed their threshold. + +"The house is in a terrible state for want o' you," Tommy would say, +trying to wheedle her. "We hinna sanded the floor for months, and the +box-iron has fallen ahint the dresser, and my gray sark is rove up the +back, and oh, you should just see the holes in Aaron's stockings!" + +Then Grizel rocked her arms in agony, but no, she would not go in. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE SHADOW OF SIR WALTER + + +Tommy was in Miss Ailie's senior class now, though by no means at the +top of it, and her mind was often disturbed about his future. On this +subject Aaron had never spoken to anyone, and the problem gave Tommy +himself so little trouble that all Elspeth knew was that he was to be +great and that she was to keep his house. So the school-mistress braved +an interview with Aaron for the sake of her favorite. + +"You know he is a remarkable boy," she said. + +"At his lessons, ma'am?" asked Aaron, quietly. + +Not exactly at his lessons, she had to admit. + +"In what way, then, ma'am?" + +Really Miss Ailie could not say. There was something wonderful about +Tommy, you felt it, but you could not quite give it a name. The warper +must have noticed it himself. + +"I've heard him saying something o' the kind to Elspeth," was Aaron's +reply. + +"But sometimes he is like a boy inspired," said the school-mistress. +"You must have seen that?" + +"When he was thinking o' himsel'," answered Aaron. + +"He has such noble sentiments." + +"He has." + +"And I think, I really think," said Miss Ailie, eagerly, for this was +what she had come to say, "that he has got great gifts for the +ministry." + +"I'm near sure o't," said Aaron, grimly. + +"Ah, I see you don't like him." + +"I dinna," the warper acknowledged quietly, "but I've been trying to do +my duty by him for all that. It's no every laddie that gets three years' +schooling straight on end." + +This was true, but Miss Ailie used it to press her point. "You have done +so well by him," she said, "that I think you should keep him at school +for another year or two, and so give him a chance of carrying a bursary. +If he carries one it will support him at college; if he does not--well, +then I suppose he must be apprenticed to some trade." + +"No," Aaron said, decisively; "if he gets the chance of a college +education and flings it awa', I'll waste no more siller on his keep. +I'll send him straight to the herding." + +"And I shall not blame you," Miss Ailie declared eagerly. + +"Though I would a hantle rather," continued the warper, "waur my money +on Elspeth." + +"What you spend on him," Miss Ailie argued, "you will really be spending +on her, for if he rises in the world he will not leave Elspeth behind. +You are prejudiced against him, but you cannot deny that." + +"I dinna deny but what he's fond o' her," said Aaron, and after +considering the matter for some days he decided that Tommy should get +his chance. The school-mistress had not acted selfishly, for this +decision, as she knew, meant that the boy must now be placed in the +hands of Mr. Cathro, who was a Greek and Latin scholar. She taught Latin +herself, it is true, but as cautiously as she crossed a plank bridge, +and she was never comfortable in the dominie's company, because even at +a tea-table he would refer familiarly to the ablative absolute instead +of letting sleeping dogs lie. + +"But Elspeth couldna be happy if we were at different schools," Tommy +objected instantly. + +"Yes, I could," said Elspeth, who had been won over by Miss Ailie; "it +will be so fine, Tommy, to see you again after I hinna seen you for +three hours." + +Tommy was little known to Mr. Cathro at this time, except as the boy who +had got the better of a rival teacher in the affair of Corp, which had +delighted him greatly. "But if the sacket thinks he can play any of his +tricks on me," he told Aaron, "there is an awakening before him," and he +began the cramming of Tommy for a bursary with perfect confidence. + +But before the end of the month, at the mere mention of Tommy's name, +Mr. Cathro turned red in the face, and the fingers of his laying-on hand +would clutch an imaginary pair of tawse. Already Tommy had made him +self-conscious. He peered covertly at Tommy, and Tommy caught him at it +every time, and then each quickly looked another way, and Cathro vowed +never to look again, but did it next minute, and what enraged him most +was that he knew Tommy noted his attempts at self-restraint as well as +his covert glances. All the other pupils knew that a change for the +worse had come over the dominie's temper. They saw him punish Tommy +frequently without perceptible cause, and that he was still unsatisfied +when the punishment was over. This apparently was because Tommy gave him +a look before returning to his seat. When they had been walloped they +gave Cathro a look also, but it merely meant, "Oh, that this was a dark +road and I had a divot in my hand!" while his look was unreadable, that +is unreadable to them, for the dominie understood it and writhed. What +it said was, "You think me a wonder, and therefore I forgive you." + +"And sometimes he fair beats Cathro!" So Tommy's schoolmates reported at +home, and the dominie had to acknowledge its truth to Aaron. "I wish you +would give that sacket a thrashing for me," he said, half furiously, yet +with a grin on his face, one day when he and the warper chanced to meet +on the Monypenny road. + +"I'll no lay a hand on bairn o' Jean Myles," Aaron replied. "Ay, and I +understood you to say that he should meet his match in you." + +"Did I ever say that, man? Well, well, we live and learn." + +"What has he been doing now?" + +"What has he been doing!" echoed Cathro. "He has been making me look +foolish in my own class-room. Yes, sir, he has so completely got the +better of me (and not for the first time) that when I tell the story of +how he diddled Mr. Ogilvy, Mr. Ogilvy will be able to cap it with the +story of how the little whelp diddled me. Upon my soul, Aaron, he is +running away with all my self-respect and destroying my sense of humor." + +What had so crushed the dominie was the affair of Francie Crabb. Francie +was now a pupil, like Gavin Dishart and Tommy, of Mr. Cathro's, who +detested the boy's golden curls, perhaps because he was bald himself. +They were also an incentive to evil-doing on the part of other boys, who +must give them a tug in passing, and on a day the dominie said, in a +fury, "Give your mother my compliments, Francie, and tell her I'm so +tired of seeing your curls that I mean to cut them off to-morrow +morning." + +"Say he shall not," whispered Tommy. + +"You shanna!" blurted out Francie. + +"But I will," said Cathro; "I would do it now if I had the shears." + +It was only an empty threat, but an hour afterwards the dominie caught +Tommy wagering in witchy marbles and other coin that he would not do it, +and then instead of taking the tawse to him he said, "Keep him to his +bargains, laddies, for whatever may have been my intention at the time, +I mean to be as good as my word now." + +He looked triumphantly at Tommy, who, however, instead of seeming +crestfallen, continued to bet, and now the other boys were eager to +close with him, for great was their faith in Cathro. These transactions +were carried out on the sly, but the dominie knew what was going on, and +despite his faith in himself he had his twitches of uneasiness. + +"However, the boy can only be trusting to fear of Mrs. Crabb restraining +me," he decided, and he marched into the school-room next morning, +ostentatiously displaying his wife's largest scissors. His pupils +crowded in after him, and though he noticed that all were strangely +quiet and many wearing scared faces, he put it down to the coming scene. +He could not resist giving one triumphant glance at Tommy, who, however, +instead of returning it, looked modestly down. Then--"Is Francie Crabb +here?" asked Mr. Cathro, firmly. + +"He's hodding ahint the press," cried a dozen voices. + +"Come forward, Francie," said the dominie, clicking the shears to +encourage him. + +There was a long pause, and then Francie emerged in fear from behind the +press. Yes, it was Francie, but his curls were gone! + +The shears fell to the floor. "Who did this?" roared the terrible +Cathro. + +"It was Tommy Sandys," blurted out Francis, in tears. + +The school-master was unable to speak, and, alarmed at the stillness, +Francie whined, "He said it would be done at ony rate, and he promised +me half his winnings." + +It is still remembered by bearded men and married women who were at +school that day how Cathro leaped three forms to get at Tommy, and how +Tommy cried under the tawse and yet laughed ecstatically at the same +time, and how subsequently he and Francie collected so many dues that +the pockets of them stood out like brackets from their little persons. + +The dominie could not help grinning a little at his own discomfiture as +he told this story, but Aaron saw nothing amusing in it. "As I telled +you," he repeated, "I winna touch him, so if you're no content wi' what +you've done yoursel', you had better put Francie's mither on him." + +"I hear she has taken him in hand already," Mr. Cathro replied dryly. +"But, Aaron, I wish you would at least keep him closer to his lessons at +night, for it is seldom he comes to the school well prepared." + +"I see him sitting lang ower his books," said Aaron. + +"Ay, maybe, but is he at them?" responded the dominie with a shake of +the head that made Aaron say, with his first show of interest in the +conversation, "You have little faith in his carrying a bursary, I see." + +But this Mr. Cathro would not admit, for if he thought Tommy a numskull +the one day he often saw cause to change his mind the next, so he +answered guardedly, "It's too soon to say, Aaron, for he has eighteen +months' stuffing to undergo yet before we send him to Aberdeen to try +his fortune, and I have filled some gey toom wimes in eighteen months. +But you must lend me a hand." + +The weaver considered, and then replied stubbornly, "No, I give him his +chance, but I'll have nocht to do wi' his use o't. And, dominie, I want +you to say not another word to me about him atween this and examination +time, for my mind's made up no to say a word to him. It's well kent that +I'm no more fit to bring up bairns than to have them (dinna conter me, +man, for the thing was proved lang syne at the Cuttle Well), and so till +that time I'll let him gang his ain gait. But if he doesna carry a +bursary, to the herding he goes. I've said it and I'll stick to it." + +So, as far as Aaron was concerned, Tommy was left in peace to the glory +of collecting his winnings from those who had sworn by Cathro, and among +them was Master Gavin Ogilvy Dishart, who now found himself surrounded +by a debt of sixpence, a degrading position for the son of an Auld Licht +minister. + +Tommy would not give him time, but was willing to take his copy of +"Waverley" as full payment. + +Gavin offered him "Ivanhoe" instead, because his mother had given a +read of "Waverley" to Gavinia, Miss Ailie's servant, and she read so +slowly, putting her finger beneath each word, that she had not yet +reached the middle. Also, she was so enamoured of the work that she +would fight anyone who tried to take it from her. + +Tommy refused "Ivanhoe," as it was not about Jacobites, but suggested +that Gavinia should be offered it in lieu of "Waverley," and told that +it was a better story. + +The suggestion came too late, as Gavinia had already had a loan of +"Ivanhoe," and read it with rapture, inch by inch. However, if Tommy +would wait a month, or-- + +Tommy was so eager to read more about the Jacobites that he found it +trying to wait five minutes. He thought Gavin's duty was to get his +father to compel Gavinia to give the book up. + +Was Tommy daft? Mr. Dishart did not know that his son possessed these +books. He did not approve of story books, and when Mrs. Dishart gave +them to Gavin on his birthday she--she had told him to keep them out of +his father's sight. (Mr. and Mrs. Dishart were very fond of each other, +but there were certain little matters that she thought it unnecessary to +trouble him about.) + +So if Tommy was to get "Waverley" at once, he must discover another way. +He reflected, and then set off to Miss Ailie's (to whom he still read +sober works of an evening, but novels never), looking as if he had +found a way. + +For some time Miss Ailie had been anxious about her red-armed maid, who +had never before given pain unless by excess of willingness, as when she +offered her garter to tie Miss Ailie's parcels with. Of late, however, +Gavinia had taken to blurting out disquieting questions, to the +significance of which she withheld the key, such as-- + +"Is there ony place nowadays, ma'am, where there's tourniements? And +could an able-bodied lassie walk to them? and what might be the charge +to win in?" + +Or, "Would you no like to be so michty beautiful, ma'am, that as soon as +the men saw your bonny face they just up wi' you in their arms and ran?" + +Or again, "What's the heaviest weight o' a woman a grand lusty man could +carry in his arms as if she were an infant?" + +This method of conveyance seemed to have a peculiar fascination for +Gavinia, and she got herself weighed at the flesher's. On another +occasion she broke a glass candlestick, and all she said to the pieces +was, "Wha carries me, wears me." + +This mystery was troubling the school-mistress sadly when Tommy arrived +with the key to it. "I'm doubting Gavinia's reading ill books on the +sly," he said. + +"Never!" exclaimed Miss Ailie, "she reads nothing but the _Mentor_." + +Tommy shook his head, like one who would fain hope so, but could not +overlook facts. "I've been hearing," he said, "that she reads books as +are full o' Strokes and Words We have no Concern with." + +Miss Ailie could not believe it, but she was advised to search the +kitchen, and under Gavinia's mattress was found the dreadful work. + +"And you are only fifteen!" said Miss Ailie, eying her little maid +sorrowfully. + +"The easier to carry," replied Gavinia, darkly. + +"And you named after a minister!" Miss Ailie continued, for her maid had +been christened Gavinia because she was the first child baptized in his +church after the Rev. Gavin Dishart came to Thrums. "Gavinia, I must +tell him of this. I shall take this book to Mr. Dishart this very day." + +"The right man to take it to," replied the maid, sullenly, "for it's his +ain." + +"Gavinia!" + +"Well, it was Mrs. Dishart that lended it to me." + +"I--I never saw it on the manse shelves." + +"I'm thinking," said the brazen Gavinia, "as there's hoddy corners in +manses as well as in--blue-and-white rooms." + +This dark suggestion was as great a shock to the gentle school-mistress +as if out of a clear sky had come suddenly the word-- + +_Stroke!_ + +She tottered with the book that had so demoralized the once meek +Gavinia into the blue-and-white room, where Tommy was restlessly +awaiting her, and when she had told him all, he said, with downcast +eyes: + +"I was never sure o' Mrs. Dishart. When I hand her the _Mentor_ she +looks as if she didna care a stroke for't--" + +"Tommy!" + +"I'm doubting," he said sadly, "that she's ower fond o' Words We have no +Concern with." + +Miss Ailie would not listen to such talk, but she approved of the +suggestion that "Waverley" should be returned not to the minister, but +to his wife, and she accepted gratefully Tommy's kindly offer to act as +bearer. Only happening to open the book in the middle, she-- + +"I'm waiting," said Tommy, after ten minutes. + +She did not hear him. + +"I'm waiting," he said again, but she was now in the next chapter. + +"Maybe you would like to read it yoursel'!" he cried, and then she came +to, and, with a shudder handed him the book. But after he had gone she +returned to the kitchen to reprove Gavinia at greater length, and in the +midst of the reproof she said faintly: "You did not happen to look at +the end, did you?" + +"That I did," replied Gavinia. + +"And did she--did he--" + +"No," said Gavinia, sorrowfully. + +Miss Ailie sighed. "That's what I think too," said Gavinia. + +"Why didn't they?" asked the school-mistress. + +"Because he was just a sumph," answered Gavinia, scornfully. "If he had +been like Fergus, or like the chield in 'Ivanhoe,' he wouldna have ta'en +a 'no.' He would just have whipped her up in his arms and away wi' her. +That's the kind for me, ma'am." + +"There is a fascination about them," murmured Miss Ailie. + +"A what?" + +But again Miss Ailie came to. "For shame, Gavinia, for shame!" she said, +severely; "these are disgraceful sentiments." + +In the meantime Tommy had hurried with the book, not to the manse, but +to a certain garret, and as he read, his imagination went on fire. +Blinder's stories had made him half a Jacobite, and now "Waverley" +revealed to him that he was born neither for the ministry nor the +herding, but to restore to his country its rightful king. The first to +whom he confided this was Corp, who immediately exclaimed: "Michty me! +But what will the police say?" + +"I ken a wy," answered Tommy, sternly. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE LAST JACOBITE RISING + + +On the evening of the Queen's birthday, bridies were eaten to her honor +in a hundred Thrums homes, and her health was drunk in toddy, Scotch +toddy and Highland toddy. Patullo, the writer, gave a men's party, and +his sole instructions to his maid were "Keep running back and forrit wi' +the hot water." At the bank there was a ladies' party and ginger wine. +From Cathro's bedroom-window a flag was displayed with _Vivat Regina_ on +it, the sentiment composed by Cathro, the words sewn by the girls of his +McCulloch class. The eight-o'clock bell rang for an hour, and a loyal +crowd had gathered in the square to shout. To a superficial observer, +such as the Baron Bailie or Todd, the new policeman, all seemed well and +fair. + +But a very different scene was being enacted at the same time in the +fastnesses of the Den, where three resolute schemers had met by +appointment. Their trysting-place was the Cuttle Well, which is most +easily reached by the pink path made for that purpose; but the better to +further their dark and sinister design, the plotters arrived by three +circuitous routes, one descending the Reekie Broth Pot, a low but +dangerous waterfall, the second daring the perils of the crags, and the +third walking stealthily up the burn. + +"Is that you, Tommy?" + +"Whist! Do you mind the password?" + +"Stroke!" + +"Right. Have you heard Gav Dishart coming?" + +"I hinna. I doubt his father had grippit him as he was slinking out o' +the manse." + +"I fear it, Corp. I'm thinking his father is in the Woman's pay." + +"What woman?" + +"The Woman of Hanover?" + +"That's the queen, is it no?" + +"She'll never get me to call her queen." + +"Nor yet me. I think I hear Gav coming." + +Gav Dishart was the one who had come by the burn, and his boots were +cheeping like a field of mice. He gave the word "Stroke," and the three +then looked at each other firmly. The lights of the town were not +visible from the Cuttle Well, owing to an arm of cliff that is +outstretched between, but the bell could be distinctly heard, and +occasionally a shout of revelry. + +"They little ken!" said Tommy, darkly. + +"They hinna a notion," said Corp, but he was looking somewhat perplexed +himself. + +"It's near time I was back for family exercise," said Gav, uneasily, +"so we had better do it quick, Tommy." + +"Did you bring the wineglasses?" Tommy asked him. + +"No," Gav said, "the press was lockit, but I've brought egg-cups." + +"Stand round then." + +The three boys now presented a picturesque appearance, but there was +none save the man in the moon to see them. They stood round the Cuttle +Well, each holding an egg-cup, and though the daring nature of their +undertaking and the romantic surroundings combined to excite them, it +was not fear but soaring purpose that paled their faces and caused their +hands to tremble, when Tommy said solemnly, "Afore we do what we've come +here to do, let's swear." + +"Stroke!" he said. + +"Stroke!" said Gav. + +"Stroke!" said Corp. + +They then filled their cups and holding them over the well, so that they +clinked, they said: + +"To the king ower the water!" + +"To the king ower the water!" + +"To the king ower the water!" + +When they had drunk Tommy broke his cup against a rock, for he was +determined that it should never be used to honor a meaner toast, and the +others followed his example, Corp briskly, though the act puzzled him, +and Gav with a gloomy look because he knew that the cups would be +missed to-morrow. + +"Is that a' now?" whispered Corp, wiping his forehead with his sleeve. + +"All!" cried Tommy. "Man, we've just begood." + +As secretly as they had entered it, they left the Den, and anon three +figures were standing in a dark trance, cynically watching the revellers +in the square. + +"If they just kent!" muttered the smallest, who was wearing his jacket +outside in to escape observation. + +"But they little ken!" said Gav Dishart. + +"They hinna a notion!" said Corp, contemptuously, but still he was a +little puzzled, and presently he asked softly: "Lads, what just is it +that they dinna ken?" + +Had Gav been ready with an answer he could not have uttered it, for just +then a terrible little man in black, who had been searching for him in +likely places, seized him by the cuff of the neck, and, turning his face +in an easterly direction, ran him to family worship. But there was still +work to do for the other two. Walking home alone that night from Mr. +Patullo's party, Mr. Cathro had an uncomfortable feeling that he was +being dogged. When he stopped to listen, all was at once still, but the +moment he moved onward he again heard stealthy steps behind. He retired +to rest as soon as he reached his house, to be wakened presently by a +slight noise at the window, whence the flag-post protruded. It had been +but a gust of wind, he decided, and turned round to go to sleep again, +when crash! the post was plucked from its place and cast to the ground. +The dominie sprang out of bed, and while feeling for a light, thought he +heard scurrying feet, but when he looked out at the window no one was to +be seen; _Vivat Regina_ lay ignobly in the gutters. That it could have +been the object of an intended theft was not probable, but the open +window might have tempted thieves, and there was a possible though risky +way up by the spout. The affair was a good deal talked about at the +time, but it remained shrouded in a mystery which even we have been +unable to penetrate. + +On the heels of the Queen's birthday came the Muckley, the one that was +to be known to fame, if fame was willing to listen to Corp, as Tommy's +Muckley. Unless he had some grand aim in view never was a boy who +yielded to temptations more blithely than Tommy, but when he had such +aim never was a boy so firm in withstanding them. At this Muckley he had +a mighty reason for not spending money, and with ninepence in his pocket +clamoring to be out he spent not one halfpenny. There was something +uncanny in the sight of him stalking unscathed between rows of stands +and shows, everyone of them aiming at his pockets. Corp and Gav, of +course, were in the secret and did their humble best to act in the same +unnatural manner, but now and again a show made a successful snap at +Gav, and Corp had gloomy fears that he would lose his head in presence +of the Teuch and Tasty, from which humiliation indeed he was only saved +by the happy idea of requesting Tommy to shout "Deuteronomy!" in a +warning voice, every time they drew nigh Californy's seductive stand. + +Was there nothing for sale, then, that the three thirsted to buy? There +were many things, among them weapons of war, a pack of cards, more +properly called Devil's books, blue bonnets suitable for Highland +gentlemen, feathers for the bonnets, a tin lantern, yards of tartan +cloth, which the deft fingers of Grizel would convert into warriors' +sashes. Corp knew that these purchases were in Tommy's far-seeing eye, +but he thought the only way to get them was to ask the price and then +offer half. Gav, the scholar, who had already reached daylight through +the first three books of Euclid, and took a walk every Saturday morning +with his father and Herodotus, even Gav, the scholar, was as +thick-witted as Corp. + +"We'll let other laddies buy them," Tommy explained in his superior way, +"and then after the Muckley is past, we'll buy them frae them." + +The others understood now. After a Muckley there was always a great +dearth of pence, and a moneyed man could become owner of Muckley +purchases at a sixth part of the Muckley price. + +"You crittur!" exclaimed Corp, in abject admiration. + +But Gav saw an objection. "The feck of them," he pointed out, "will +waur their siller on shows and things to eat, instead of on what we want +them to buy." + +"So they will, the nasty sackets!" cried Corp. + +"You couldna blame a laddie for buying Teuch and Tasty," continued Gav +with triumph, for he was a little jealous of Tommy. + +"You couldna," agreed Corp, "no, I'll be dagont, if you could," and his +hand pressed his money feverishly. + +"Deuteronomy!" roared Tommy, and Corp's hand jumped as if it had been +caught in some other person's, pocket. + +"But how are we to do?" he asked. "If you like, I'll take Birkie and the +Haggerty-Taggertys round the Muckley and fight ilka ane that doesna +buy--" + +"Corp," said Tommy, calmly, "I wonder at you. Do you no ken yet that the +best plan is to leave a thing to me?" + +"Blethering gowks that we are, of course it is!" cried Corp, and he +turned almost fiercely upon Gav. "Lippen all to him," he said with grand +confidence, "he'll find a wy." + +And Tommy found a way. Birkie was the boy who bought the pack of cards. +He saw Tommy looking so-woe-begone that it was necessary to ask the +reason. + +"Oh, Birkie, lend me threepence," sobbed Tommy, "and I'll give you +sixpence the morn." + +"You're daft," said Birkie, "there's no a laddie in Thrums that will +have one single lonely bawbee the morn." + +"Him that buys the cards," moaned Tommy, "will never be without siller, +for you tell auld folks fortunes on them at a penny every throw. Lend me +threepence, Birkie. They cost a sic, and I have just--" + +"Na, na," said greedy Birkie, "I'm no to be catched wi' chaff. If it's +true, what you say, I'll buy the cards mysel'." + +Having thus got hold of him, Tommy led Birkie to a stand where the King +of Egypt was telling fortunes with cards, and doing a roaring trade +among the Jocks and Jennys. He also sold packs at sixpence each, and the +elated Birkie was an immediate purchaser. + +"You're no so clever as you think yoursel'!" he said triumphantly to +Tommy, who replied with his inscrutable smile. But to his satellites he +said, "Not a soul will buy a fortune frae Birkie. I'll get thae cards +for a penny afore next week's out." + +Francie Crabb found Tommy sniggering to himself in the back wynd. "What +are you goucking at?" asked Francie, in surprise, for, as a rule, Tommy +only laughed behind his face. + +"I winna tell you," chuckled Tommy, "but what a bar, oh, what a divert!" + +"Come on, tell me." + +"Well, it's at the man as is swallowing swords ahint the menagerie." + +"I see nothing to laugh at in that." + +"I'm no laughing at that. I'm laughing at him for selling the swords for +ninepence the piece. Oh, what ignorant he is, oh, what a bar!" + +"Ninepence is a mislaird price for a soord," said Francie. "I never gave +ninepence." + +Tommy looked at him in the way that always made boys fidget with their +fists. + +"You're near as big a bar as him," he said scornfully. "Did you ever see +the sword that's hanging on the wall in the backroom at the +post-office?" + +"No, but my father has telled me about it. It has a grand name." + +"It's an Andrea Ferrara, that's what it is." + +"Ay, I mind the name now; there has been folk killed wi' that soord." + +This was true, for the post-office Andrea Ferrara has a stirring +history, but for the present its price was the important thing. "Dr. +McQueen offered a pound note for it," said Tommy. + +"I ken that, but what has it to do wi' the soord-swallower?" + +"Just this; that the swords he is selling for ninepence are Andrea +Ferraras, the same as the post-office ones, and he could get a pound a +piece for them if he kent their worth. Oh, what a bar, oh, what--" + +Francie's eyes lit up greedily, and he looked at his two +silver shillings, and took two steps in the direction of the +sword-swallower's, and faltered and could not make up his agitated mind. +Tommy set off toward the square at a brisk walk. + +"Whaur are you off to?" asked Francie, following him. + +"To tell the man what his swords is worth. It would be ill done no to +tell him." To clinch the matter, off went Tommy at a run, and off went +Francie after him. As a rule Tommy was the swifter, but on this occasion +he lagged of fell purpose, and reached the sword-swallower's tent just +in time to see Francie emerge elated therefrom, carrying two Andrea +Ferraras. Francie grinned when they met. + +"What a bar!" he crowed. + +"What a bar!" agreed Tommy, and sufficient has now been told to show +that he had found a way. Even Gav acknowledged a master, and, when the +accoutrements of war were bought at second hand as cheaply as Tommy had +predicted, applauded him with eyes and mouth for a full week, after +which he saw things in a new light. Gav of course was to enter the +bursary lists anon, and he had supposed that Cathro would have the last +year's schooling of him; but no, his father decided to send him for the +grand final grind to Mr. Ogilvy of Glen Quharity, a famous dominie +between whom and Mr. Dishart existed a friendship that none had ever got +at the root of. Mr. Cathro was more annoyed than he cared to show, Gav +being of all the boys of that time the one likeliest to do his teacher +honor at the university competitions, but Tommy, though the decision +cost him an adherent, was not ill-pleased, for he had discovered that +Gav was one of those irritating boys who like to be leader. Gav, as has +been said, suddenly saw Tommy's victory over Messrs. Birkie, Francie, +etc., in a new light; this was because when he wanted back the shilling +which he had contributed to the funds for buying their purchases, Tommy +replied firmly: + +"I canna give you the shilling, but I'll give you the lantern and the +tartan cloth we bought wi' it." + +"What use could they be to me at Glen Quharity?" Gav protested. + +"Oh, if they are no use to you," Tommy said sweetly, "me and Corp is +willing to buy them off you for threepence." + +Then Gav became a scorner of duplicity, but he had to consent to the +bargain, and again Corp said to Tommy, "Oh, you crittur!" But he was +sorry to lose a fellow-conspirator. "There's just the twa o' us now," he +sighed. + +"Just twa!" cried Tommy. "What are you havering about, man? There's as +many as I like to whistle for." + +"You mean Grizel and Elspeth, I ken, but--" + +"I wasna thinking of the womenfolk," Tommy told him, with a +contemptuous wave of the hand. He went closer to Corp, and said, in a +low voice, "The McKenzies are waiting!" + +"Are they, though?" said Corp, perplexed, as he had no notion who the +McKenzies might be. + +"And Lochiel has twa hunder spearsmen." + +"Do you say so?" + +"Young Kinnordy's ettling to come out, and I meet Lord Airlie, when the +moon rises, at the Loups o' Kenny, and auld Bradwardine's as spunky as +ever, and there's fifty wild Highlandmen lying ready in the muckle cave +of Clova." + +He spoke so earnestly that Corp could only ejaculate, "Michty me!" + +"But of course they winna rise," continued Tommy, darkly, "till he +lands." + +"Of course no," said Corp, "but--wha is he?" + +"Himsel'," whispered Tommy, "the Chevalier!" + +Corp hesitated. "But, I thought," he said diffidently, "I thought you--" + +"So I am," said Tommy. + +"But you said he hadna landed yet?" + +"Neither he has." + +"But you--" + +"Well?" + +"You're here, are you no?" + +Tommy stamped his foot in irritation. "You're slow in the uptak," he +said. "I'm no here. How can I be here when I'm at St. Germains?" + +"Dinna be angry wi' me," Corp begged. "I ken you're ower the water, but +when I see you, I kind of forget; and just for the minute I think you're +here." + +"Well, think afore you speak." + +"I'll try, but that's teuch work. When do you come to Scotland?" + +"I'm no sure; but as soon as I'm ripe." + +At nights Tommy now sometimes lay among the cabbages of the school-house +watching the shadow of Black Cathro on his sitting-room blind. Cathro +never knew he was there. The reason Tommy lay among the cabbages was +that there was a price upon his head. + +"But if Black Cathro wanted to get the blood-money," Corp said +apologetically, "he could nab you any day. He kens you fine." + +Tommy smiled meaningly. "Not him," he answered, "I've cheated him bonny, +he hasna a notion wha I am. Corp, would you like a good laugh?" + +"That I would." + +"Weel, then, I'll tell you wha he thinks I am. Do you ken a little house +yont the road a bitty irae Monypenny?" + +"I ken no sic house," said Corp, "except Aaron's." + +"Aaron's the man as bides in it," Tommy continued hastily, "at least I +think that's the name. Well, as you ken the house, you've maybe noticed +a laddie that bides there too?" + +"There's no laddie," began Corp, "except--" + +"Let me see," interrupted Tommy, "what was his name? Was it Peter? No. +Was it Willie? Stop, I mind, it was Tommy." + +He glared so that Corp dared not utter a word. + +"Have you notitched him?" + +"I've--I've seen him," Corp gasped. + +"Well, this is the joke," said Tommy, trying vainly to restrain his +mirth, "Cathro thinks I'm that laddie! Ho! ho! ho!" + +Corp scratched his head, then he bit his warts, then he spat upon his +hands, then he said "Damn." + +The crisis came when Cathro, still ignorant that the heather was on +fire, dropped some disparaging remarks about the Stuarts to his history +class. Tommy said nothing, but--but one of the school-windows was +without a snib, and next morning when the dominie reached his desk he +was surprised to find on it a little cotton glove. He raised it on high, +greatly puzzled, and then, as ever when he suspected knavery, his eyes +sought Tommy, who was sitting on a form, his arms proudly folded. That +the whelp had put the glove there, Cathro no longer doubted, and he +would have liked to know why, but was reluctant to give him the +satisfaction of asking. So the gauntlet--for gauntlet it was--was laid +aside, the while Tommy, his head humming like a beeskep, muttered +triumphantly through his teeth, "But he lifted it, he lifted it!" and at +closing time it was flung in his face with this fair tribute: + +"I'm no a rich man, laddie, but I would give a pound note to know what +you'll be at ten years from now." + +There could be no mistaking the dire meaning of these words, and Tommy +hurried, pale but determined, to the quarry, where Corp, with a barrow +in his hands, was learning strange phrases by heart, and finding it a +help to call his warts after the new swears. + +"Corp," cried Tommy, firmly, "I've set sail!" + +On the following Saturday evening Charles Edward landed in the Den. In +his bonnet was the white cockade, and round his waist a tartan sash; +though he had long passed man's allotted span his face was still full of +fire, his figure lithe and even boyish. For state reasons he had assumed +the name of Captain Stroke. As he leapt ashore from the bark, the +Dancing Shovel, he was received right loyally by Corp and other faithful +adherents, of whom only two, and these of a sex to which his House was +ever partial, were visible, owing to the gathering gloom. Corp of that +Ilk sank on his knees at the water's edge, and kissing his royal +master's hand said, fervently, "Welcome, my prince, once more to bonny +Scotland!" Then he rose and whispered, but with scarcely less emotion, +"There's an egg to your tea." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE SIEGE OF THRUMS + + +The man in the moon is a native of Thrums, who was put up there for +hacking sticks on the Sabbath, and as he sails over the Den his interest +in the bit placey is still sufficient to make him bend forward and cry +"Boo!" at the lovers. When they jump apart you can see the aged +reprobate grinning. Once out of sight of the den, he cares not a boddle +how the moon travels, but the masterful crittur enrages him if she is in +a hurry here, just as he is cleverly making out whose children's +children are courting now. "Slow, there!" he cries to the moon, but she +answers placidly that they have the rest of the world to view to-night. +"The rest of the world be danged!" roars the man, and he cranes his neck +for a last glimpse of the Cuttle Well, until he nearly falls out of the +moon. + +Never had the man such a trying time as during the year now before him. +It was the year when so many scientific magnates sat up half the night +in their shirts, spying at him through telescopes. But every effort to +discover why he was in such a fidget failed, because the spy-glasses +were never levelled at the Thrums den. Through the whole of the +incidents now to tell, you may conceive the man (on whom sympathy would +be wasted) dagoning horribly, because he was always carried past the den +before he could make head or tail of the change that had come over it. + +The spot chosen by the ill-fated Stuart and his gallant remnant for +their last desperate enterprise was eminently fitted for their purpose. +Being round the corner from Thrums, it was commanded by no fortified +place save the farm of Nether Drumgley, and on a recent goustie night +nearly all the trees had been blown down, making a hundred hiding-places +for bold climbers, and transforming the Den into a scene of wild and +mournful grandeur. In no bay more suitable than the flooded field called +the Silent Pool could the hunted prince have cast anchor, for the Pool +is not only sheltered from observation, but so little troubled by gales +that it had only one drawback: at some seasons of the year it was not +there. This, however, did not vex Stroke, as it is cannier to call him, +for he burned his boats on the night he landed (and a dagont, tedious +job it was too), and pointed out to his followers that the drouth which +kept him in must also keep the enemy out. Part of the way to the lair +they usually traversed in the burn, because water leaves no trace, and +though they carried turnip lanterns and were armed to the teeth, this +was often a perilous journey owing to the lovers close at hand on the +pink path, from which the trees had been cleared, for lads and lasses +must walk whate'er betide. Ronny-On's Jean and Peter Scrymgeour, little +Lisbeth Doak and long Sam'l from Pyotdykes were pairing that year, and +never knew how near they were to being dirked by Corp of Corp, who, +lurking in the burn till there were no tibbits in his toes, muttered +fiercely, "Cheep one single cheep, and it will be thy hinmost, +methinks!" under the impression that Methinks was a Jacobite oath. + +For this voluntary service, Stroke clapped Corp of Corp on the shoulder +with a naked sword, and said, "Rise, Sir Joseph!" which made Corp more +confused than ever, for he was already Corp of Corp, Him of Muckle +Kenny, Red McNeil, Andrew Ferrara, and the Master of Inverquharity +(Stroke's names), as well as Stab-in-the-Dark, Grind-them-to-Mullins, +and Warty Joe (his own), and which he was at any particular moment he +never knew, till Stroke told him, and even then he forgot and had to be +put in irons. + +The other frequenters of the lair on Saturday nights (when alone the +rebellion was active) were the proud Lady Grizel and Widow Elspeth. It +had been thought best to make Elspeth a widow, because she was so +religious. + +The lair was on the right bank of the burn, near the waterfall, and you +climbed to it by ropes, unless you preferred an easier way. It is now a +dripping hollow, down which water dribbles from beneath a sluice, but at +that time it was hidden on all sides by trees and the huge clods of +sward they had torn from the earth as they fell. Two of these clods were +the only walls of the lair, which had at times a ceiling not unlike +Aaron Latta's bed coverlets, and the chief furniture was two barrels, +marked "Usquebach" and "Powder." When the darkness of Stroke's fortunes +sat like a pall upon his brow, as happened sometimes, he sought to drive +it away by playing cards on one of these barrels with Sir Joseph, but +the approach of the Widow made him pocket them quickly with a warning +sign to his trusty knight, who did not understand, and asked what had +become of them, whereupon Elspeth cried, in horror: + +"Cards! Oh, Tommy, you promised--" + +But Stroke rode her down with, "Cards! Wha has been playing cards? You, +Muckle Kenny, and you, Sir Joseph, after I forbade it! Hie, there, +Inverquharity, all of you, seize those men." + +Then Corp blinked, came to his senses and marched himself off to the +prison on the lonely promontory called the Queen's Bower, saying +ferociously, "Jouk, Sir Joseph, and I'll blaw you into posterity." + +It is sable night when Stroke and Sir Joseph reach a point in the Den +whence the glimmering lights of the town are distinctly visible. Neither +speaks. Presently the distant eight-o'clock bell rings, and then Sir +Joseph looks anxiously at his warts, for this is the signal to begin, +and as usual he has forgotten the words. + +"Go on," says someone in a whisper. It cannot be Stroke, for his head +is brooding on his breast. This mysterious voice haunted all the doings +in the Den, and had better be confined in brackets. + +("Go on.") + +"Methinks," says Sir Joseph, "methinks the borers--" + + +("Burghers.") + +"Methinks the burghers now cease from their labors." + +"Ay," replied Stroke, "'tis so, would that they ceased from them +forever!" + +"Methinks the time is at hand." + +"Ha!" exclaims Stroke, looking at his lieutenant curiously, "what makest +thou say so? For three weeks these fortifications have defied my cannon, +there is scarce a breach yet in the walls of yonder town." + +"Methinks thou wilt find a way." + +"It may be so, my good Sir Joseph, it may be so, and yet, even when I am +most hopeful of success, my schemes go a gley." + +"Methinks thy dark--" + +("Dinna say Methinks so often.") + +("Tommy, I maun. If I dinna get that to start me off, I go through +other.") + +("Go on.") + +"Methinks thy dark spirit lies on thee to-night." + +"Ay, 'tis too true. But canst thou blame me if I grow sad? The town +still in the enemy's hands, and so much brave blood already spilt in +vain. Knowest thou that the brave Kinnordy fell last night? My noble +Kinnordy!" + +Here Stroke covers his face with his hands, weeping silently, and--and +there is an awkward pause. + +("Go on--'Still have me.'") + +("So it is.") "Weep not, my royal scone--" + +("Scion.") + +"Weep not, my royal scion, havest thou not still me?" + +"Well said, Sir Joseph," cries Stroke, dashing the sign of weakness from +his face. "I still have many brave fellows, and with their help I shall +be master of this proud town." + +"And then ghost we to fair Edinburgh?" + +"Ay, 'tis so, but, Sir Joseph, thinkest thou these burghers love the +Stuart not?" + +"'_Nay,_ methinks they are true to thee, but their starch +commander--(give me my time, this is a lang ane,) but their arch +commander is thy bitterest foe. Vile spoon that he is! (It's no spoon, +it's spawn.)" + +"Thou meanest the craven Cathro?" + +"Methinks ay. (I like thae short anes.)" + +"'Tis well!" says Stroke, sternly. "That man hath ever slipped between +me and my right. His time will come." + +"He floppeth thee--he flouteth thee from the battlements." + +"Ha, 'tis well!" + +("You've said that already.") + +("I say it twice.") + +("That's what aye puts me wrang.) Ghost thou to meet the proud Lady +Grizel to-night?" + +"Ay." + +"Ghost thou alone?" + +"Ay." + +("What easy anes you have!) I fear it is not chancey for thee to go." + +"I must dree my dreed." + +"These women is kittle cattle." + +"The Stuart hath ever a soft side for them. Ah, my trusty +foster-brother, knowest thou not what it is to love?" + +"Alas, I too have had my fling. (Does Grizel kiss your hand yet?)" + +"(No, she winna, the limmer.) Sir Joseph, I go to her." + +"Methinks she is a haughty onion. I prithee go not to-night." + +"I have given my word." + +"Thy word is a band." + +"Adieu, my friend." + +"Methinks thou ghost to thy damn. (Did we no promise Elspeth there +should be no swearing?)" + +The raft Vick Lan Vohr is dragged to the shore, and Stroke steps on +board, a proud solitary figure. "Farewell!" he cries hoarsely, as he +seizes the oar. + +"Farewell, my leech," answers Corp, and then helps him to disembark. +Their hands chance to meet, and Stroke's is so hot that Corp quails. + +"Tommy," he says, with a shudder, "do you--you dinna think it's a' true, +do you?" But the ill-fated prince only gives him a warning look and +plunges into the mazes of the forest. For a long time silence reigns +over the Den. Lights glint fitfully, a human voice imitates the +plaintive cry of the peewit, cautious whistling follows, comes next the +clash of arms, and the scream of one in the death-throes, and again +silence falls. Stroke emerges near the Reekie Broth Pot, wiping his +sword and muttering, "Faugh! it drippeth!" At the same moment the air is +filled with music of more than mortal--well, the air is filled with +music. It seems to come from but a few yards away, and pressing his hand +to his throbbing brow the Chevalier presses forward till, pushing aside +the branches of a fallen fir, he comes suddenly upon a scene of such +romantic beauty that he stands rooted to the ground. Before him, softly +lit by a half-moon (the man in it perspiring with curiosity), is a +miniature dell, behind which rise threatening rocks, overgrown here and +there by grass, heath, and bracken, while in the centre of the dell is a +bubbling spring called the Cuttle Well, whose water, as it overflows a +natural basin, soaks into the surrounding ground and so finds a way into +the picturesque stream below. But it is not the loveliness of the spot +which fascinates the prince; rather is it the exquisite creature who +sits by the bubbling spring, a reed from a hand-loom in her hands, from +which she strikes mournful sounds, the while she raises her voice in +song. A pink scarf and a blue ribbon are crossed upon her breast, her +dark tresses kiss her lovely neck, and as she sits on the only dry +stone, her face raised as if in wrapt communion with the heavens, and +her feet tucked beneath her to avoid the mud, she seems not a human +being, but the very spirit of the place and hour. The royal wanderer +remains spellbound, while she strikes her lyre and sings (with but one +trivial alteration) the song of MacMurrough:-- + +Awake on your hills, on your islands awake, +Brave sons of the mountains, the frith and the lake! +'Tis the bugle--but not for the chase is the call; +'Tis the pibroch's shrill summons--but not to the hall. + +'Tis the summons of heroes for conquest or death, +When the banners are blazing on mountain and heath; +They call to the dirk, the claymore and the targe, +To the march and the muster, the line and the charge. + +Be the brand of each Chieftain like Stroke's in his ire! +May the blood through his veins flow like currents of fire! +Burst the base foreign yoke as your sires did of yore, +Or die like your sires, and endure it no more. + +As the fair singer concluded, Stroke, who had been deeply moved, heaved +a great sigh, and immediately, as if in echo of it, came a sigh from the +opposite side of the dell. In a second of time three people had learned +that a certain lady had two lovers. She starts to her feet, still +carefully avoiding the puddles, but it is not she who speaks. + +("Did you hear me?") + +("Ay.") + +("You're ready?") + +("Ca' awa'.") + +Stroke dashes to the girl's side, just in time to pluck her from the +arms of a masked man. The villain raises his mask and reveals the face +of--it looks like Corp, but the disguise is thrown away on Stroke. + +"Ha, Cathro," he exclaims joyfully, "so at last we meet on equal terms!" + +"Back, Stroke, and let me pass." + +"Nay, we fight for the wench." + +"So be it. The prideful onion is his who wins her." + +"Have at thee, caitiff!" + +A terrible conflict ensues. Cathro draws first blood. 'Tis but a +scratch. Ha! well thrust, Stroke. In vain Cathro girns his teeth. Inch +by inch he is driven back, he slips, he recovers, he pants, he is +apparently about to fling himself down the steep bank and so find safety +in flight, but he comes on again. + +("What are you doing? You run now.") + +("I ken, but I'm sweer!") + +("Off you go.") + +Even as Stroke is about to press home, the cowardly foe flings himself +down the steep bank and rolls out of sight. He will give no more trouble +to-night; and the victor turns to the Lady Grizel, who had been +repinning the silk scarf across her breast, while the issue of the +combat was still in doubt. + +("Now, then, Grizel, you kiss my hand.") + +("I tell you I won't.") + +("Well, then, go on your knees to me.") + +("You needn't think it.") + +("Dagon you! Then ca' awa' standing.") + +"My liege, thou hast saved me from the wretch Cathro." + +"May I always be near to defend thee in time of danger, my pretty +chick." + +("Tommy, you promised not to call me by those silly names.") + +("They slip out, I tell you. That was aye the way wi' the Stuarts.") + +("Well, you must say 'Lady Grizel.') Good, my prince, how can I thank +thee?" + +"By being my wife. (Not a word of this to Elspeth.)" + +"Nay, I summoned thee here to tell thee that can never be. The Grizels +of Grizel are of ancient lineage, but they mate not with monarchs. My +sire, the nunnery gates will soon close on me forever." + +"Then at least say thou lovest me." + +"Alas, I love thee not." + +("What haver is this? I telled you to say 'Charles, would that I loved +thee less.'") + +("And I told you I would not.") + +("Well, then, where are we now?") + +("We miss out all that about my wearing your portrait next my heart, and +put in the rich apparel bit, the same as last week.") + +("Oh! Then I go on?) Bethink thee, fair jade--" + +("Lady.") + +"Bethink thee, fair lady, Stuart is not so poor but that, if thou come +with him to his lowly lair, he can deck thee with rich apparel and +ribbons rare." + +"I spurn thy gifts, unhappy man, but if there are holes in--" + +("Miss that common bit out. I canna thole it.") + +("I like it.) If there are holes in the garments of thy loyal followers, +I will come and mend them, and have a needle and thread in my pocket. +(Tommy, there is another button off your shirt! Have you got the +button?") + +"(It's down my breeks.) So be it, proud girl, come!" + +It was Grizel who made masks out of tin rags, picked up where tinkers +had passed the night, and musical instruments out of broken reeds that +smelled of caddis and Jacobite head-gear out of weaver's night-caps; and +she kept the lair so clean and tidy as to raise a fear that intruders +might mistake its character. Elspeth had to mind the pot, which Aaron +Latta never missed, and Corp was supposed to light the fire by striking +sparks from his knife, a trick which Tommy considered so easy that he +refused to show how it was done. Many strange sauces were boiled in that +pot, a sort of potato-turnip pudding often coming out even when not +expected, but there was an occasional rabbit that had been bowled over +by Corp's unerring hand, and once Tommy shot a--a haunch of venison, +having first, with Corp's help, howked it out of Ronny-On's swine, then +suspended head downward, and open like a book at the page of contents, +steaming, dripping, a tub beneath, boys with bladders in the distance. +When they had supped they gathered round the fire, Grizel knitting a +shawl for they knew whom, but the name was never mentioned, and Tommy +told the story of his life at the French court, and how he fought in the +'45 and afterward hid in caves, and so did he shudder, as he described +the cold of his bracken beds, and so glowed his face, for it was all +real to him, that Grizel let the wool drop on her knee, and Corp +whispered to Elspeth, "Dinna be fleid for him; I'se uphaud he found a +wy." Those quiet evenings were not the least pleasant spent in the Den. + +But sometimes they were interrupted by a fierce endeavor to carry the +lair, when boys from Cathro's climbed to it up each other's backs, the +rope, of course, having been pulled into safety at the first sound, and +then that end of the Den rang with shouts, and deeds of valor on both +sides were as common as pine needles, and once Tommy and Corp were only +saved from captors who had them down, by Grizel rushing into the midst +of things with two flaring torches, and another time bold Birkie, most +daring of the storming party, was seized with two others and made to +walk the plank. The plank had been part of a gate, and was suspended +over the bank of the Silent Pool, so that, as you approached the farther +end, down you went. It was not a Jacobite method, but Tommy feared that +rows of bodies, hanging from the trees still standing in the Den, might +attract attention. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +GRIZEL PAYS THREE VISITS + + +Less alarming but more irritating was the attempt of the youth of +Monypenny and the West town end, to establish a rival firm of Jacobites +(without even being sure of the name). They started business (Francie +Crabb leader, because he had a kilt) on a flagon of porter and an +ounce of twist, which they carried on a stick through the Den, saying +"Bowf!" like dogs, when they met anyone, and then laughing doubtfully. +The twist and porter were seized by Tommy and his followers, and +Haggerty-Taggerty, Major, arrived home with his head so firmly secured +in the flagon that the solder had to be melted before he saw the world +again. Francie was in still worse plight, for during the remainder of +the evening he had to hide in shame among the brackens, and Tommy wore a +kilt. + +One cruel revenge the beaten rivals had. They waylaid Grizel, when she +was alone, and thus assailed her, she answering not a word. + +"What's a father?" + +"She'll soon no have a mither either!" + +"The Painted Lady needs to paint her cheeks no longer!" + +"Na, the red spots comes themsels now." + +"Have you heard her hoasting?" + +"Ay, it's the hoast o' a dying woman." + +"The joiner heard it, and gave her a look, measuring her wi' his eye for +the coffin. 'Five and a half by one and a half would hold her snod,' he +says to himsel'." + +"Ronny-On's auld wife heard it, and says she, 'Dinna think, my leddy, as +you'll be buried in consecrated ground.'" + +"Na, a'body kens she'll just be hauled at the end o' a rope to the hole +where the witches was shooled in." + +"Wi' a paling spar through her, to keep her down on the day o' +judgment." + +Well, well, these children became men and women in time, one of them +even a bit of a hero, though he never knew it. + +Are you angry with them? If so, put the cheap thing aside, or think only +of Grizel, and perhaps God will turn your anger into love for her. + +Great-hearted, solitary child! She walked away from them without +flinching, but on reaching the Den, where no one could see her--she lay +down on the ground, and her cheeks were dry, but little wells of water +stood in her eyes. + +She would not be the Lady Grizel that night. She went home instead, but +there was something she wanted to ask Tommy now, and the next time she +saw him she began at once. Grizel always began at once, often in the +middle, she saw what she was making for so clearly. + +"Do you know what it means when there are red spots in your cheeks, that +used not to be there?" + +Tommy knew at once to whom she was referring, for he had heard the +gossip of the youth of Monypenny, and he hesitated to answer. + +"And if, when you cough, you bring up a tiny speck of blood?" + +"I would get a bottle frae the doctor," said Tommy, evasively. + +"She won't have the doctor," answered Grizel, unguardedly, and then with +a look dared Tommy to say that she spoke of her mother. + +"Does it mean you are dying?" + +"I--I--oh, no, they soon get better." + +He said this because he was so sorry for Grizel. There never was a more +sympathetic nature than Tommy's. At every time of his life his pity was +easily roused for persons in distress, and he sought to comfort them by +shutting their eyes to the truth as long as possible. This sometimes +brought relief to them, but it was useless to Grizel, who must face her +troubles. + +"Why don't you answer truthfully?" she cried, with vehemence. "It is so +easy to be truthful!" + +"Well, then," said Tommy, reluctantly, "I think they generally die." + +Elspeth often carried in her pocket a little Testament, presented to her +by the Rev. Mr. Dishart for learning by heart one of the noblest of +books, the Shorter Catechism, as Scottish children do or did, not +understanding it at the time, but its meaning comes long afterwards and +suddenly, when you have most need of it. Sometimes Elspeth read aloud +from her Testament to Grizel, who made no comment, but this same +evening, when the two were alone, she said abruptly: + +"Have you your Testament?" + +"Yes," Elspeth said, producing it. + +"Which is the page about saving sinners?" + +"It's all about that." + +"But the page when you are in a hurry?" + +Elspeth read aloud the story of the Crucifixion, and Grizel listened +sharply until she heard what Jesus said to the malefactor: "To-day shalt +thou be with me in Paradise." + +"And was he?" + +"Of course." + +"But he had been wicked all his life, and I believe he was only good, +just that minute, because they were crucifying him. If they had let him +come down.--" + +"No, he repented, you know. That means he had faith, and if you have +faith you are saved. It doesna matter how bad you have been. You have +just to say 'I believe' before you die, and God lets you in. It's so +easy, Grizel," cried Elspeth, with shining eyes. + +Grizel pondered. "I don't believe it is so easy as that," she said, +decisively. + +Nevertheless she asked presently what the Testament cost, and when +Elspeth answered "Fourpence," offered her the money. + +"I don't want to sell it," Elspeth remonstrated. + +"If you don't give it to me, I shall take it from you," said Grizel, +determinedly. + +"You can buy one." + +"No, the shop people would guess." + +"Guess what?" + +"I won't tell you." + +"I'll lend it to you." + +"I won't take it that way." So Elspeth had to part with her Testament, +saying wonderingly, "Can you read?" + +"Yes, and write too. Mamma taught me." + +"But I thought she was daft," Elspeth blurted out. + +"She is only daft now and then," Grizel replied, without her usual +spirit. "Generally she is not daft at all, but only timid." + +Next morning the Painted Lady's child paid three calls, one in town, two +in the country. The adorable thing is that, once having made up her +mind, she never flinched, not even when her hand was on the knocker. + +The first gentleman received her in his lobby. For a moment he did not +remember her; then suddenly the color deepened on his face, and he went +back and shut the parlor-door. + +"Did anybody see you coming here?" he asked, quickly. + +"I don't know." + +"What does she want?" + +"She did not send me, I came myself." + +"Well?" + +"When you come to our house--" + +"I never come to your house." + +"That is a lie." + +"Speak lower!" + +"When you come to our house you tell me to go out and play. But I don't. +I go and cry." + +No doubt he was listening, but his eyes were on the parlor-door. + +"I don't know why I cry, but you know, you wicked man! Why is it?" + +"Why is it?" she demanded again, like a queen-child, but he could only +fidget with his gold chain and shuffle uneasily in his parnella shoes. + +"You are not coming to see my mamma again." + +The gentleman gave her an ugly look. + +"If you do," she said at once, "I shall come straight here and open that +door you are looking at, and tell your wife." + +He dared not swear. His hand-- + +"If you offer me money," said Grizel, "I shall tell her now." + +He muttered something to himself. + +"Is it true?" she asked, "that mamma is dying?" + +This was a genuine shock to him, for he had not been at Double Dykes +since winter, and then the Painted Lady was quite well. + +"Nonsense!" he said, and his obvious disbelief brought some comfort to +the girl. But she asked, "Why are there red spots on her cheeks, then?" + +"Paint," he answered. + +"No," cried Grizel, rocking her arms, "it is not paint now. I thought it +might be and I tried to rub it off while she was sleeping, but it will +not come off. And when she coughs there is blood on her handkerchief." + +He looked alarmed now, and Grizel's fears came back. "If mamma dies," +she said determinedly, "she must be buried in the cemetery." + +"She is not dying, I tell you." + +"And you must come to the funeral." + +"Are you gyte?" + +"With crape on your hat." + +His mouth formed an emphatic "No." + +"You must," said Grizel, firmly, "you shall! If you don't--" She pointed +to the parlor-door. + +Her remaining two visits were to a similar effect, and one of the +gentlemen came out of the ordeal somewhat less shamefully than the +first, the other worse, for he blubbered and wanted to kiss her. It is +questionable whether many young ladies have made such a profound +impression in a series of morning calls. + +The names of these gentlemen are not known, but you shall be told +presently where they may be found. Every person in Thrums used to know +the place, and many itched to get at the names, but as yet no one has +had the nerve to look for them. + +Not at this time did Grizel say a word of these interviews to her +friends, though Tommy had to be told of them later, and she never again +referred to her mother at the Saturday evenings in the Den. But the +others began to know a queer thing, nothing less than this, that in +their absence the lair was sometimes visited by a person or persons +unknown, who made use of their stock of firewood. It was a startling +discovery, but when they discussed it in council, Grizel never +contributed a word. The affair remained a mystery until one Saturday +evening, when Tommy and Elspeth, reaching the lair first, found in it a +delicate white shawl. They both recognized in it the pretty thing the +Painted Lady had pinned across her shoulders on the night they saw her +steal out of Double Dykes, to meet the man of long ago. + +Even while their eyes were saying this, Grizel climbed in without giving +the password, and they knew from her quick glance around that she had +come for the shawl. She snatched it out of Tommy's hand with a look +that prohibited questions. + +"It's the pair o' them," Tommy said to Elspeth at the first opportunity, +"that sometimes comes here at nights and kindles the fire and warms +themsels at the gloze. And the last time they came they forgot the +shawl." + +"I dinna like to think the Painted Lady has been up here, Tommy." + +"But she has. You ken how, when she has a daft fit, she wanders the Den +trysting the man that never comes. Has she no been seen at all hours o' +the night, Grizel following a wee bit ahint, like as if to take tent o +her?" + +"They say that, and that Grizel canna get her to go home till the daft +fit has passed." + +"Well, she has that kechering hoast and spit now, and so Grizel brings +her up here out o' the blasts." + +"But how could she be got to come here, if she winna go home?" + +"Because frae here she can watch for the man." + +Elspeth shuddered. "Do you think she's here often, Tommy?" she asked. + +"Just when she has a daft fit on, and they say she's wise sax days in +seven." + +This made the Jacobite meetings eerie events for Elspeth, but Tommy +liked them the better; and what were they not to Grizel, who ran to them +with passionate fondness every Saturday night? Sometimes she even +outdistanced her haunting dreads, for she knew that her mother did not +think herself seriously ill; and had not the three gentlemen made light +of that curious cough? So there were nights when the lair saw Grizel go +riotous with glee, laughing, dancing, and shouting over-much, like one +trying to make up for a lost childhood. But it was also noticed that +when the time came to leave the Den she was very loath, and kissed her +hands to the places where she had been happiest, saying, wistfully, and +with pretty gestures that were foreign to Thrums, "Good-night, dear +Cuttle Well! Good-by, sweet, sweet Lair!" as if she knew it could not +last. These weekly risings in the Den were most real to Tommy, but it +was Grizel who loved them best. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +A ROMANCE OF TWO OLD MAIDS AND A STOUT BACHELOR + + +Came Gavinia, a burgess of the besieged city, along the south shore of +the Silent Pool. She was but a maid seeking to know what love might be, +and as she wandered on, she nibbled dreamily at a hot sweet-smelling +bridie, whose gravy oozed deliciously through a bursting paper-bag. + +It was a fit night for dark deeds. + +"Methinks she cometh to her damn!" + +The speaker was a masked man who had followed her--he was sniffing +ecstatically--since she left the city walls. + +She seemed to possess a charmed life. He would have had her in Shovel +Gorge, but just then Ronny-On's Jean and Peter Scrymgeour turned the +corner. + +Suddenly Gavinia felt an exquisite thrill: a man was pursuing her. She +slipped the paper-bag out of sight, holding it dexterously against her +side with her arm, so that the gravy should not spurt out, and ran. +Lights flashed, a kingly voice cried "Now!" and immediately a petticoat +was flung over her head. (The Lady Griselda looked thin that evening.) + +Gavinia was dragged to the Lair, and though many a time they bumped her, +she still tenderly nursed the paper-bag with her arm, or fondly thought +she did so, for when unmuffled she discovered that it had been removed, +as if by painless surgery. And her captors' tongues were sweeping their +chins for stray crumbs. + +The wench was offered her choice of Stroke's gallant fellows, but "Wha +carries me wears me," said she, promptly, and not only had he to carry +her from one end of the Den to the other, but he must do it whistling as +if barely conscious that she was there. So after many attempts (for she +was always willing to let them have their try) Corp of Corp, speaking +for Sir Joseph and the others, announced a general retreat. + +Instead of taking this prisoner's life, Stroke made her his tool, +releasing her on condition that every seventh day she appeared at the +Lair with information concerning the doings in the town. Also, her name +was Agnes of Kingoldrum, and, if she said it was not, the plank. Bought +thus, Agnes proved of service, bringing such bags of news that Stroke +was often occupied now in drawing diagrams of Thrums and its +strongholds, including the residence of Cathro, with dotted lines to +show the direction of proposed underground passages. + +And presently came by this messenger disquieting rumors indeed. Another +letter, being the third in six months, had reached the Dovecot, +addressed, not to Miss Ailie, but to Miss Kitty. Miss Kitty had been +dead fully six years, and Archie Piatt, the post, swore that this was +the eighteenth, if not the nineteenth, letter he had delivered to her +name since that time. They were all in the same hand, a man's, and there +had been similar letters while she was alive, but of these he kept no +record. Miss Ailie always took these letters with a trembling hand, and +then locked herself in her bedroom, leaving the key in such a position +in its hole that you might just as well go straight back to the kitchen. +Within a few hours of the arrival of these ghostly letters, tongues were +wagging about them, but to the two or three persons who (after passing a +sleepless night) bluntly asked Miss Ailie from whom they came, she only +replied by pursing her lips. Nothing could be learned at the post-office +save that Miss Ailie never posted any letters there, except to two +Misses and a Mrs., all resident in Redlintie. The mysterious letters +came from Australy or Manchester, or some such part. + +What could Stroke make of this? He expressed no opinion, but oh, his +face was grim. Orders were immediately given to double the sentinels. A +barrel was placed in the Queen's Bower. Sawdust was introduced at +immense risk into the Lair. A paper containing this writing, "248xho317 +Oxh4591AWS314dd5," was passed round and then solemnly burned. Nothing +was left to chance. + +Agnes of Kingoldrum (Stroke told her) did not know Miss Ailie, but she +was commanded to pay special attention to the gossip of the town +regarding this new move of the enemy. By next Saturday the plot had +thickened. Previous letters might have reddened Miss Ailie's eyes for an +hour or two, but they gladdened her as a whole. Now she sat crying all +evening with this one on her lap; she gave up her daily walk to the +Berlin wool shop, with all its romantic possibilities; at the clatter of +the tea-things she would start apprehensively; she had let a red shawl +lie for two days in the blue-and-white room. + +Stroke never blanched. He called his faithful remnant around him, and +told them the story of Bell the Cat, with its application in the records +of his race. Did they take his meaning? This Miss Ailie must be watched +closely. In short, once more, in Scottish history, someone must bell the +cat. Who would volunteer? + +Corp of Corp and Sir Joseph stepped forward as one man. + +"Thou couldst not look like Gavinia," the prince said, shaking his head. + +"Wha wants him to look like Gavinia?" cried an indignant voice. + +"Peace, Agnes!" said Stroke. + +"Agnes, why bletherest thou?" said Sir Joseph. + +"If onybody's to watch Miss Ailie," insisted the obstinate woman, +"surely it should be me!" + +"Ha!" Stroke sprang to his feet, for something in her voice, or the +outline of her figure, or perhaps it was her profile, had given him an +idea. "A torch!" he cried eagerly and with its aid he scanned her face +until his own shone triumphant. + +"He kens a wy, methinks!" exclaimed one of his men. + +Sir Joseph was right. It had been among the prince's exploits to make +his way into Thrums in disguise, and mix with the people as one of +themselves, and on several of these occasions he had seen Miss Ailie's +attendant. Agnes's resemblance to her now struck him for the first time. +It should be Agnes of Kingoldrum's honorable though dangerous part to +take this Gavinia's place. + +But how to obtain possession of Gavinia's person? Agnes made several +suggestions, but was told to hold her prating peace. It could only be +done in one way. They must kidnap her. Sir Joseph was ordered to be +ready to accompany his liege on this perilous enterprise in ten minutes. +"And mind," said Stroke, gravely, "we carry our lives in our hands." + +"In our hands!" gasped Sir Joseph, greatly puzzled, but he dared ask no +more, and when the two set forth (leaving Agnes of Kingoldrum looking +very uncomfortable), he was surprised to see that Stroke was carrying +nothing. Sir Joseph carried in his hand his red hanky, mysteriously +knotted. + +"Where is yours?" he whispered. + +"What meanest thou?" + +Sir Joseph replied, "Oh, nothing," and thought it best to slip his +handkerchief into his trouser-pocket, but the affair bothered him for +long afterwards. + +When they returned through the Den, there still seemed (to the +unpiercing eye) to be but two of them; nevertheless, Stroke re-entered +the Lair to announce to Agnes and the others that he had left Gavinia +below in charge of Sir Joseph. She was to walk the plank anon, but first +she must be stripped that Agnes might don her garments. Stroke was every +inch a prince, so he kept Agnes by his side, and sent down the Lady +Griselda and Widow Elspeth to strip the prisoner, Sir Joseph having +orders to stand back fifty paces. (It is a pleasure to have to record +this.) + +The signal having been given that this delicate task was accomplished, +Stroke whistled shrilly, and next moment was heard from far below a +thud, as of a body falling in water, then an agonizing shriek, and then +again all was still, save for the heavy breathing of Agnes of +Kingoldrum. + +Sir Joseph (very wet) returned to the Lair, and Agnes was commanded to +take off her clothes in a retired spot and put on those of the deceased, +which she should find behind a fallen tree. + +"I winna be called the deceased," cried Agnes hotly, but she had to do +as she was bid, and when she emerged, from behind the tree she was the +very image of the ill-fated Gavinia. Stroke showed her a plan of Miss +Ailie's backdoor, and also gave her a kitchen key (when he produced +this, she felt in her pockets and then snatched it from him), after +which she set out for the Dovecot in a scare about her own identity. + +"And now, what doest thou think about it a'?" inquired Sir Joseph +eagerly, to which Stroke made answer, looking at him fixedly. + +"The wind is in the west!" + +Sir Joseph should have kept this a secret, but soon Stroke heard +Inverquharity prating of it, and he called his lieutenant before him. +Sir Joseph acknowledged humbly that he had been unable to hide it from +Inverquharity, but he promised not to tell Muckle Kenny, of whose +loyalty there were doubts. Henceforth, when the faithful fellow was +Muckle Kenny, he would say doggedly to himself, "Dinna question me, +Kenny. I ken nocht about it." + +Dark indeed were now the fortunes of the Pretender, but they had one +bright spot. Miss Ailie had been taken in completely by the trick played +on her, and thus Stroke now got full information of the enemy's doings. +Cathro having failed to dislodge the Jacobites, the seat of war had been +changed by Victoria to the Dovecot, whither her despatches were now +forwarded. That this last one, of which Agnes of Kingoldrum tried in +vain to obtain possession, doubled the price on the Pretender's head, +there could be no doubt; but as Miss Ailie was a notorious Hanoverian, +only the hunted prince himself knew why this should make her cry. + +He hinted with a snigger something about an affair he had once had with +the lady. + +The Widow and Sir Joseph accepted this explanation, but it made Lady +Griselda rock her arms in irritation. + +The reports about Miss Ailie's behavior became more and more alarming. +She walked up and down her bedroom now in the middle of the night. Every +time the knocker clanked she held herself together with both hands. +Agnes had orders not to answer the door until her mistress had keeked +through the window. + +"She's expecting a veesitor, methinks," said Corp. This was his bright +day. + +"Ay," answered Agnes, "but is't a man-body, or just a woman-body?" + +Leaving the rebels in the Lair stunned by Victoria's latest move, we now +return to Thrums, where Miss Ailie's excited state had indeed been the +talk of many. Even the gossips, however, had underestimated her distress +of mind, almost as much as they misunderstood its cause. You must listen +now (will you?) to so mild a thing as the long thin romance of two +maiden ladies and a stout bachelor, all beginning to be old the day the +three of them first drank tea together, and that was ten years ago. + +Miss Ailie and Miss Kitty, you may remember, were not natives of Thrums. +They had been born and brought up at Redlintie, and on the death of +their parents they had remained there, the gauger having left them all +his money, which was just sufficient to enable them to live like ladies, +if they took tiny Magenta Cottage, and preferred an inexperienced maid. +At first their life was very quiet, the walk from eleven to one for the +good of fragile Miss Kitty's health its outstanding feature. When they +strolled together on the cliffs, Miss Ailie's short thick figure, +straight as an elvint, cut the wind in two, but Miss Kitty was swayed +this way and that, and when she shook her curls at the wind, it blew +them roguishly in her face, and had another shot at them, as soon as +they were put to rights. If the two walked by the shore (where the +younger sometimes bathed her feet, the elder keeping a sharp eye on land +and water), the sea behaved like the wind, dodging Miss Ailie's ankles +and snapping playfully at Miss Kitty's. Thus even the elements could +distinguish between the sisters, who nevertheless had so much in common +that at times Miss Ailie would look into her mirror and sigh to think +that some day Miss Kitty might be like this. How Miss Ailie adored Miss +Kitty! She trembled with pleasure if you said Miss Kitty was pretty, and +she dreamed dreams in which she herself walked as bridesmaid only. And +just as Miss Ailie could be romantic, Miss Kitty, the romantic, could be +prim, and the primness was her own as much as the curls, but Miss Ailie +usually carried it for her, like a cloak in case of rain. + +Not often have two sweeter women grown together on one stem. What were +the men of Redlintie about? The sisters never asked each other this +question, but there were times when, apparently without cause, Miss +Ailie hugged Miss Kitty vehemently, as if challenging the world, and +perhaps Miss Kitty understood. + +Thus a year or more passed uneventfully, until the one romance of their +lives befell them. It began with the reappearance in Redlintie of +Magerful Tarn, who had come to torment his father into giving him more +money, but, finding he had come too late, did not harass the sisters. +This is perhaps the best thing that can be told of him, and, as if he +knew this, he had often told it himself to Jean Myles, without however +telling her what followed. For something to his advantage did follow, +and it was greatly to the credit of Miss Ailie and Miss Kitty, though +they went about it as timidly as if they were participating in a crime. +Ever since they learned of the sin which had brought this man into the +world their lives had been saddened, for on the same day they realized +what a secret sorrow had long lain at their mother's heart. Alison +Sibbald was a very simple, gracious lady, who never recovered from the +shock of discovering that she had married a libertine; yet she had +pressed her husband to do something for his son, and been greatly pained +when he refused with a coarse laugh. The daughters were very like her in +nature, and though the knowledge of what she had suffered increased many +fold their love for her, so that in her last days their passionate +devotion to her was the talk of Redlintie, it did not blind them to what +seemed to them to be their duty to the man. As their father's son, they +held, he had a right to a third of the gauger's money, and to withhold +it from him, now that they knew his whereabouts, would have been a form +of theft. But how to give T. his third? They called him T. from +delicacy, and they had never spoken to him. When he passed them in the +streets, they turned pale, and, thinking of their mother, looked another +way. But they knew he winked. + +At last, looking red in one street, and white in another, but resolute +in all, they took their business to the office of Mr. John McLean, the +writer, who had once escorted Miss Kitty home from a party without +anything coming of it, so that it was quite a psychological novel in +several volumes. Now Mr. John happened to be away at the fishing, and a +reckless maid showed them into the presence of a strange man, who was no +other than his brother Ivie, home for a year's holiday from India, and +naturally this extraordinary occurrence so agitated them that Miss Ailie +had told half her story before she realized that Miss Kitty was titting +at her dress. Then indeed she sought to withdraw, but Ivie, with the +alarming yet not unpleasing audacity of his sex, said he had heard +enough to convince him that in this matter he was qualified to take his +brother's place. But he was not, for he announced, "My advice to you is +not to give T. a halfpenny," which showed that he did not even +understand what they had come about. + +They begged permission to talk to each other behind the door, and +presently returned, troubled but brave. Miss Kitty whispered "Courage!" +and this helped Miss Ailie to the deed. + +"We have quite made up our minds to let T. have the money," she said, +"but--but the difficulty is the taking it to him. Must we take it in +person?" + +"Why not?" asked Ivie, bewildered. + +"It would be such a painful meeting to us." said Miss Ailie. + +"And to him," added simple Miss Kitty. + +"You see we have thought it best not to--not to know him," said Miss +Ailie, faintly. + +"Mother--" faltered Miss Kitty, and at the word the eyes of both ladies +began to fill. + +Then, of course, Mr. McLean discovered the object of their visit, and +promised that his brother should take this delicate task off their +hands, and as he bowed them out he said, "Ladies, I think you are doing +a very foolish thing, and I shall respect you for it all my life." At +least Miss Kitty insisted that respect was the word, Miss Ailie thought +he said esteem. + +That was how it began, and it progressed for nearly a year at a rate +that will take away your breath. On the very next day he met Miss Kitty +in High Street, a most awkward encounter for her ("for, you know, Ailie, +we were never introduced, so how could I decide all in a moment what to +do?"), and he raised his hat (the Misses Croall were at their window and +saw the whole thing). But we must gallop, like the friendship. He bowed +the first two times, the third time he shook hands (by a sort of +providence Miss Kitty had put on her new mittens), the fourth, fifth, +and sixth times he conversed, the seventh time he--they replied that +they really could not trouble him so much, but he said he was going that +way at any rate; the eighth time, ninth time, and tenth time the figures +of two ladies and a gentleman might have been observed, etc., and either +the eleventh or twelfth time ("Fancy our not being sure, Ailie"--"It has +all come so quickly, Kitty") he took his first dish of tea at Magenta +Cottage. + +There were many more walks after this, often along the cliffs to a +little fishing village, over which the greatest of magicians once +stretched his wand, so that it became famous forever, as all the world +saw except himself; and tea at the cottage followed, when Ivie asked +Miss Kitty to sing "The Land o' the Leal," and Miss Ailie sat by the +window, taking in her merino, that it might fit Miss Kitty, cutting her +sable muff (once Alison Sibbald's) into wristbands for Miss Kitty's +astrakhan; they did not go quite all the way round, but men are blind. + +Ivie was not altogether blind. The sisters, it is to be feared, called +him the dashing McLean, but he was at this time nearly forty years old, +an age when bachelors like to take a long rest from thinking of +matrimony, before beginning again. Fifteen years earlier he had been in +love, but the girl had not cared to wait for him, and, though in India +he had often pictured himself returning to Redlintie to gaze wistfully +at her old home, when he did come back he never went, because the house +was a little out of the way. But unknown to him two ladies went, to whom +he had told this as a rather dreary joke. They were ladies he esteemed +very much, though having a sense of humor he sometimes chuckled on his +way home from Magenta Cottage, and he thought out many ways of adding +little pleasures to their lives. It was like him to ask Miss Kitty to +sing and play, though he disliked music. He understood that it is a hard +world for single women, and knew himself for a very ordinary sort of +man. If it ever crossed his head that Miss Kitty would be willing to +marry him, he felt genuinely sorry at the same time that she had not +done better long ago. He never flattered himself that he could be +accepted now, save for the good home he could provide (he was not the +man to blame women for being influenced by that), for like most of his +sex he was unaware that a woman is never too old to love or to be loved; +if they do know it, the mean ones among them make a jest of it, at which +(God knows why) their wives laugh. Mr. McLean had been acquainted with +the sisters for months before he was sure even that Miss Kitty was his +favorite. He found that out one evening when sitting with an old friend, +whose wife and children were in the room, gathered round a lamp and +playing at some child's game. Suddenly Ivie McLean envied his friend, +and at the same moment he thought tenderly of Miss Kitty. But the +feeling passed. He experienced it next and as suddenly when arriving at +Bombay, where some women were waiting to greet their husbands. + +Before he went away the two gentlewomen knew that he was not to speak. +They did not tell each other what was in their minds. Miss Kitty was so +bright during those last days, that she must have deceived anyone who +did not love her, and Miss Ailie held her mouth very tight, and if +possible was straighter than ever, but oh, how gentle she was with Miss +Kitty! Ivie's last two weeks in the old country were spent in London, +and during that time Miss Kitty liked to go away by herself, and sit on +a rock and gaze at the sea. Once Miss Ailie followed her and would have +called him a-- + +"Don't, Ailie!" said Miss Kitty, imploringly. But that night, when Miss +Kitty was brushing her hair, she said, courageously, "Ailie, I don't +think I should wear curls any longer. You know I--I shall be +thirty-seven in August." And after the elder sister had become calm +again. Miss Kitty said timidly, "You don't think I have been unladylike, +do you, Ailie?" + +Such a trifle now remains to tell. Miss Kitty was the better business +woman of the two, and kept the accounts, and understood, as Miss Ailie +could not understand, how their little income was invested, and even +knew what consols were, though never quite certain whether it was their +fall or rise that is matter for congratulation. And after the ship had +sailed, she told Miss Ailie that nearly all their money was lost, and +that she had known it for a month. + +"And you kept it from me! Why?" + +"I thought, Ailie, that you, knowing I am not strong--that you--would +perhaps tell him." + +"And I would!" cried Miss Ailie. + +"And then," said Miss Kitty, "perhaps he, out of pity, you know!" + +"Well, even if he had!" said Miss Ailie. + +"I could not, oh, I could not," replied Miss Kitty, flushing; "it--it +would not have been ladylike, Ailie." + +Thus forced to support themselves, the sisters decided to keep school +genteelly, and, hearing that there was an opening in Thrums, they +settled there, and Miss Kitty brushed her hair out now, and with a twist +and a twirl ran it up her fingers into a net, whence by noon some of it +had escaped through the little windows and was curls again. She and Miss +Ailie were happy in Thrums, for time took the pain out of the affair of +Mr. McLean, until it became not merely a romantic memory, but, with the +letters he wrote to Miss Kitty and her answers, the great quiet pleasure +of their lives. They were friendly letters only, but Miss Kitty wrote +hers out in pencil first and read them to Miss Ailie, who had been +taking notes for them. + +In the last weeks of Miss Kitty's life Miss Ailie conceived a passionate +unspoken hatred of Mr. McLean, and her intention was to write and tell +him that he had killed her darling. But owing to the illness into which +she was flung by Miss Kitty's death, that unjust letter was never +written. + +But why did Mr. McLean continue to write to Miss Kitty? + +Well, have pity or be merciless as you choose. For several years Mr. +McLean's letters had been the one thing the sisters looked forward to, +and now, when Miss Ailie was without Miss Kitty, must she lose them +also? She never doubted, though she may have been wrong, that, if Ivie +knew of Miss Kitty's death, one letter would come in answer, and that +the last. She could not tell him. In the meantime he wrote twice asking +the reason of this long silence, and at last Miss Ailie, whose +handwriting was very like her sister's, wrote him a letter which was +posted at Tilliedrum and signed "Katherine Cray." The thing seems +monstrous, but this gentle lady did it, and it was never so difficult to +do again. Latterly, it had been easy. + +This last letter of Mr. McLean's announced to Miss Kitty that he was +about to start for home "for good," and he spoke in it of coming to +Thrums to see the sisters, as soon as he reached Redlintie. Poor Miss +Ailie! After sleepless nights she trudged to the Tilliedrum post-office +with a full confession of her crime, which would be her welcome home to +him when he arrived at his brother's house. Many of the words were +written on damp blobs. After that she could do nothing but wait for the +storm, and waiting she became so meek, that Gavinia, who loved her +because she was "that simple," said sorrowfully: + +"How is't you never rage at me now, ma'am? I'm sure it keepit you +lightsome, and I likit to hear the bum o't." + +"And instead o' the raging I was prigging for," the soft-hearted maid +told her friends, "she gave me a flannel petticoat!" Indeed, Miss Ailie +had taken to giving away her possessions at this time, like a woman who +thought she was on her death-bed. There was something for each of her +pupils, including--but the important thing is that there was a gift for +Tommy, which had the effect of planting the Hanoverian Woman (to whom he +must have given many uneasy moments) more securely on the British +Throne. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +A PENNY PASS-BOOK + + +Elspeth conveyed the gift to Tommy in a brown paper wrapping, and when +it lay revealed as an aging volume of _Mamma's Boy_, a magazine for the +Home, nothing could have looked more harmless. But, ah, you never know. +Hungrily Tommy ran his eye through the bill of fare for something choice +to begin with, and he found it. "The Boy Pirate" it was called. Never +could have been fairer promise, and down he sat confidently. + +It was a paper on the boys who have been undone by reading pernicious +fiction. It gave their names, and the number of pistols they had bought, +and what the judge said when he pronounced sentence. It counted the +sensational tales found beneath the bed, and described the desolation of +the mothers and sisters. It told the color of the father's hair before +and afterwards. + +Tommy flung the thing from him, picked it up again, and read on +uneasily, and when at last he rose he was shrinking from himself. In +hopes that he might sleep it off he went early to bed, but his +contrition was still with him in the morning. Then Elspeth was shown the +article which had saved him, and she, too, shuddered at what she had +been, though her remorse was but a poor display beside his, he was so +much better at everything than Elspeth. Tommy's distress of mind was so +genuine and so keen that it had several hours' start of his admiration +of it; and it was still sincere, though he himself had become gloomy, +when he told his followers that they were no more. Grizel heard his tale +with disdain, and said she hated Miss Ailie for giving him the silly +book, but he reproved these unchristian sentiments, while admitting that +Miss Ailie had played on him a scurvy trick. + +"But you're glad you've repented, Tommy," Elspeth reminded him, +anxiously. + +"Ay, I'm glad," he answered, without heartiness. + +"Well, gin you repent I'll repent too," said Corp, always ready to +accept Tommy without question. + +"You'll be happier," replied Tommy, sourly. + +"Ay, to be good's the great thing," Corp growled; "but, Tommy, could we +no have just one michty blatter, methinks, to end up wi'?" + +This, of course, could not be, and Saturday forenoon found Tommy +wandering the streets listlessly, very happy, you know, but inclined to +kick at any one who came near, such, for instance, as the stranger who +asked him in the square if he could point out the abode of Miss Ailie +Cray. + +Tommy led the way, casting some converted looks at the gentleman, and +judging him to be the mysterious unknown in whom the late Captain Stroke +had taken such a reprehensible interest. He was a stout, red-faced man, +stepping firmly into the fifties, with a beard that even the most +converted must envy, and a frown sat on his brows all the way, proving +him possibly ill-tempered, but also one of the notable few who can think +hard about one thing for at least five consecutive minutes. Many took a +glint at him as he passed, but missed the frown, they were wondering so +much why the fur of his heavy top-coat was on the inside, where it made +little show, save at blasty corners. + +Miss Ailie was in her parlor, trying to give her mind to a blue and +white note-book, but when she saw who was coming up the garden she +dropped the little volume and tottered to her bedroom. She was there +when Gavinia came up to announce that she had shown a gentleman into the +blue-and-white room, who gave the name of Ivie McLean. "Tell him--I +shall come down--presently," gasped Miss Ailie, and then Gavinia was +sure this was the man who was making her mistress so unhappy. + +"She's so easily flichtered now," Gavinia told Tommy in the kitchen, +"that for fear o' starting her I never whistle at my work without +telling her I'm to do't, and if I fall on the stair, my first thought is +to jump up and cry, 'It was just me tum'ling.' And now I believe this +brute'll be the death o' her." + +"But what can he do to her?" + +"I dinna ken, but she's greeting sair, and yon can hear how he's +rampaging up and down the blue-and-white room. Listen to his thrawn +feet! He's raging because she's so long in coming down, and come she +daurna. Oh, the poor crittur!" + +Now, Tommy was very fond of his old school-mistress, and he began to be +unhappy with Gavinia. + +"She hasna a man-body in the world to take care o' her," sobbed the +girl. + +"Has she no?" cried Tommy, fiercely, and under one of the impulses that +so easily mastered him he marched into the blue-and-white room. + +"Well, my young friend, and what may you want?" asked Mr. McLean, +impatiently. + +Tommy sat down and folded his arms. "I'm going to sit here and see what +you do to Miss Ailie," he said, determinedly. + +Mr. McLean said "Oh!" and then seemed favorably impressed, for he added +quietly: "She is a friend of yours, is she? Well, I have no intention of +hurting her." + +"You had better no," replied Tommy, stoutly. + +"Did she send you here?" + +"No; I came mysel'." + +"To protect her?" + +There was the irony in it that so puts up a boy's dander. "Dinna think," +said Tommy, hotly, "that I'm fleid at you, though I have no beard--at +least, I hinna it wi' me." + +At this unexpected conclusion a smile crossed Mr. McLean's face, but was +gone in an instant. "I wish you had laughed," said Tommy, on the watch; +"once a body laughs he canna be angry no more," which was pretty good +even for Tommy. It made Mr. McLean ask him why he was so fond of Miss +Ailie. + +"I'm the only man-body she has," he answered. + +"Oh? But why are you her man-body?" + +The boy could think of no better reason than this: "Because--because +she's so sair in need o' are." (There were moments when one liked +Tommy.) + +Mr. McLean turned to the window, and perhaps forgot that he was not +alone. "Well, what are you thinking about so deeply?" he asked by and +by. + +"I was trying to think o' something that would gar you laugh," answered +Tommy, very earnestly, and was surprised to see that he had nearly done +it. + +The blue and white note-book was lying on the floor where Miss Ailie had +dropped it. Often in Tommy's presence she had consulted this work, and +certainly its effect on her was the reverse of laughter; but once he had +seen Dr. McQueen pick it up and roar over every page. With an +inspiration Tommy handed the book to Mr. McLean. "It made the doctor +laugh," he said persuasively. + +"Go away," said Ivie, impatiently; "I am in no mood for laughing." + +"I tell you what," answered Tommy, "I'll go, if you promise to look at +it," and to be rid of him the man agreed. For the next quarter of an +hour Tommy and Gavinia were very near the door of the blue-and-white +room, Tommy whispering dejectedly, "I hear no laughing," and Gavinia +replying, "But he has quieted down." + +Mr. McLean had a right to be very angry, but God only can say whether he +had a right to be as angry as he was. The book had been handed to him +open, and he was laying it down unread when a word underlined caught his +eye. It was his own name. Nothing in all literature arrests our +attention quite so much as that. He sat down to the book. It was just +about this time that Miss Ailie went on her knees to pray. + +It was only a penny pass-book. On its blue cover had been pasted a slip +of white paper, and on the paper was written, in blue ink, "Alison +Cray," with a date nearly nine years old. The contents were in Miss +Ailie's prim handwriting; jottings for her own use begun about the time +when the sisters, trembling at their audacity, had opened school, and +consulted and added to fitfully ever since. Hours must have been spent +in erasing the blots and other blemishes so carefully. The tiny volume +was not yet full, and between its two last written pages lay a piece of +blue blotting-paper neatly cut to the size of the leaf. + +Some of these notes were transcripts from books, some contained the +advice of friends, others were doubtless the result of talks with Miss +Kitty (from whom there were signs that the work had been kept a secret), +many were Miss Ailie's own. An entry of this kind was frequent: "If you +are uncertain of the answer to a question in arithmetic, it is advisable +to leave the room on some pretext and work out the sum swiftly in the +passage." Various pretexts were suggested, and this one (which had an +insufficient line through it) had been inserted by Dr. McQueen on that +day when Tommy saw him chuckling, "You pretend that your nose is +bleeding and putting your handkerchief to it, retire hastily, the +supposition being that you have gone to put the key of the +blue-and-white room down your back." Evidently these small deceptions +troubled Miss Ailie, for she had written, "Such subterfuge is, I hope, +pardonable, the object being the maintenance of scholastic discipline." +On another page, where the arithmetic was again troubling her, this +appeared: "If Kitty were aware that the squealing of the slate-pencils +gave me such headaches, she would insist on again taking the arithmetic +class, though it always makes her ill. Surely, then, I am justified in +saying that the sound does not distress me." To this the doctor had +added, "You are a brick." + +There were two pages headed NEVER, which mentioned ten things that Miss +Ailie must never do; among them, "_Never_ let the big boys know you are +afraid of them. To awe them, stamp with the foot, speak in a loud +ferocious voice, and look them unflinchingly in the face." + +"Punishments" was another heading, but she had written it small, as if +to prevent herself seeing it each time she opened the book. Obviously +her hope had been to dispose of Punishment in a few lines, but it would +have none of that, and Mr. McLean found it stalking from page to page. +Miss Ailie favored the cane in preference to tawse, which, "often flap +round your neck as yon are about to bring them down." Except in +desperate cases "it will probably be found sufficient to order the +offender to bring the cane to you." Then followed a note about rubbing +the culprit's hand "with sweet butter or dripping" should you have +struck too hard. + +Dispiriting item, that on resuming his seat the chastised one is a hero +to his fellows for the rest of the day. Item, that Master John James +Rattray knows she hurts her own hand more than his. Item, that John +James promised to be good throughout the session if she would let him +thrash the bad ones. Item, that Master T. Sandys, himself under +correction, explained to her (the artistic instinct again) how to give +the cane a waggle when descending, which would double its nip. Item, +that Elsie Dundas offered to receive Francie Crabb's punishment for two +snaps. Item, that Master Gavin Dishart, for what he considered the honor +of his school, though aware he was imperilling his soul, fought Hendry +Dickie of Cathro's for saying Miss Ailie could not draw blood with one +stroke. + +The effect on Miss Ailie of these mortifying discoveries could be read +in the paragraph headed A MOTHER'S METHOD, which was copied from a +newspaper. Mrs. E----, it seems, was the mother of four boys (residing +at D----), and she subjected them frequently to corporal chastisement +without permanent spiritual result. Mrs. E----, by the advice of another +lady, Mrs. K---- (mother of six), then had recourse to the following +interesting experiment. Instead of punishing her children physically +when they misbehaved, she now in their presence wounded herself by +striking her left hand severely with a ruler held in the right. Soon +their better natures were touched, and the four implored her to desist, +promising with tears never to offend again. From that hour Mrs. +E---- had little trouble with her boys. + +It was recorded in the blue and white book how Miss Ailie gave this plan +a fair trial, but her boys must have been darker characters than Mrs. +E----'s, for it merely set them to watching each other, so that they +might cry out, "Pandy yourself quick, Miss Ailie; Gavin Dishart's +drawing the devil on his slate." Nevertheless, when Miss Ailie announced +a return to more conventional methods, Francie was put up (with threats) +to say that he suffered agonies of remorse every time she pandied +herself for him, but the thing had been organized in a hurry and Francie +was insufficiently primed, and on cross-examination he let out that he +thought remorse was a swelling of the hands. + +Miss Ailie was very humble-minded, and her entries under THE TEACHER +TAUGHT were all admonitions for herself. Thus she chided herself for +cowardice because "Delicate private reasons have made me avoid all +mention of India in the geography classes. Kitty says quite calmly +that this is fair neither to our pupils nor to I---- M----. The +courage of Kitty in this matter is a constant rebuke to me." Except +on a few occasions Mr. McLean found that he was always referred to as +I---- M----. + +Quite early in the volume Miss Ailie knew that her sister's hold on life +was loosening. "How bright the world suddenly seems," Mr. McLean read, +"when there is the tiniest improvement in the health of an invalid one +loves." Is it laughable that such a note as this is appended to a recipe +for beef-tea? "It is surely not very wicked to pretend to Kitty that I +keep some of it for myself; she would not take it all if she knew I +dined on the beef it was made from." Other entries showed too plainly +that Miss Ailie stinted herself of food to provide delicacies for Miss +Kitty. No doubt her expenses were alarming her when she wrote this: "An +interesting article in the _Mentor_ says that nearly all of us eat and +drink too much. Were we to mortify our stomachs we should be healthier +animals and more capable of sustained thought. The word animal in this +connection is coarse, but the article is most impressive, and a +crushing reply to Dr. McQueen's assertion that the editor drinks. In the +school-room I have frequently found my thoughts of late wandering from +classwork, and I hastily ascribed it to sitting up during the night with +Kitty or to my habit of listening lest she should be calling for me. +Probably I had over-eaten, and I must mortify the stomach. A glass of +hot water with half a spoonful of sugar in it is highly recommended as a +light supper." + +"How long ago it may seem since yesterday!" Do you need to be told on +what dark day Miss Ailie discovered that? "I used to pray that I should +be taken first, but I was both impious and selfish, for how could +fragile Kitty have fought on alone?" + +In time happiness again returned to Miss Ailie; of all our friends it is +the one most reluctant to leave us on this side of the grave. It came at +first disguised, in the form of duties, old and new; and stealthily, +when Miss Ailie was not looking, it mixed with the small worries and +joys that had been events while Miss Kitty lived, and these it converted +once more into events, where Miss Ailie found it lurking, and at first +she would not take it back to her heart, but it crept in without her +knowing. And still there were I---- M----'s letters. "They are all I +have to look forward to," she wrote in self-defence. "I shall never +write to I---- M---- again," was another entry, but Mr. McLean found on +the same page, "I have written to I---- M----, but do not intend +posting it," and beneath that was, "God forgive me, I have posted it." + +The troubles with arithmetic were becoming more terrible. "I am never +_really_ sure about the decimals," she wrote. + +A Professor of Memory had appeared at the Muckley, and Miss Ailie admits +having given him half-a-crown to explain his system to her. But when he +was gone she could not remember whether you multiplied everything by ten +before dividing by five and subtracting a hundred, or began by dividing +and doing something underhand with the cube root. Then Mr. Dishart, who +had a microscope, wanted his boy to be taught science, and several +experiments were described at length in the book, one of them dealing +with a penny, _H_, and a piston, _X Y_, and you do things to the piston +"and then the penny comes to the surface." "But it never does," Miss +Ailie wrote sorrowfully; perhaps she was glad when Master Dishart was +sent to another school. + +"Though I teach the girls the pianoforte I find that I cannot stretch my +fingers as I used to do. Kitty used to take the music, and I often +remember this suddenly when superintending a lesson. It is a pain to me +that so many wish to acquire 'The Land o' the Leal,' which Kitty sang so +often to I---- M---- at Magenta Cottage." + +Even the French, of which Miss Ailie had once been very proud, was +slipping from her. "Kitty and I kept up our French by translating +I---- M----'s letters and comparing our versions, but now that this +stimulus is taken away I find that I am forgetting my French. Or is it +only that I am growing old? too old to keep school?" This dread was +beginning to haunt Miss Ailie, and the pages between which the +blotting-paper lay revealed that she had written to the editor of the +_Mentor_ asking up to what age he thought a needy gentlewoman had a +right to teach. The answer was not given, but her comment on it told +everything. "I asked him to be severely truthful, so that I cannot +resent his reply. But if I take his advice, how am I to live? And if +I do not take it, I fear I am but a stumbling-block in the way of true +education." + +That is a summary of what Mr. McLean read in the blue and white book; +remember, you were warned not to expect much. And Tommy and Gavinia +listened, and Tommy said, "I hear no laughing," and Gavinia answered, +"But he has quieted down," and upstairs Miss Ailie was on her knees. A +time came when Mr. McLean could find something to laugh at in that +little pass-book, but it was not then, not even when he reached the end. +He left something on the last page instead. At least I think it must +have been he: Miss Ailie's tears could not have been so long a-drying. + +You may rise, now, Miss Ailie; your prayer is granted. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +TOMMY REPENTS, AND IS NONE THE WORSE FOR IT + + +Mr. McLean wrote a few reassuring words to Miss Ailie, and having told +Gavinia to give the note to her walked quietly out of the house; he was +coming back after he had visited Miss Kitty's grave. Gavinia, however, +did not knew this, and having delivered the note she returned dolefully +to the kitchen to say to Tommy, "His letter maun have been as thraun as +himsel', for as soon as she read it, down she plumped on her knees +again." + +But Tommy was not in the kitchen; he was on the garden-wall watching +Miss Ailie's persecutor. + +"Would it no be easier to watch him frae the gate?" suggested Gavinia, +who had not the true detective instinct. + +Tommy disregarded her womanlike question; a great change had come over +him since she went upstairs; his bead now wobbled on his shoulders like +a little balloon that wanted to cut its connection with earth and soar. + +"What makes you look so queer?" cried the startled maid. "I thought you +was converted." + +"So I am," he shouted, "I'm more converted than ever, and yet I can do +it just the same! Gavinia, I've found a wy!" + +He was hurrying off on Mr. McLean's trail, but turned to say, "Gavinia, +do you ken wha that man is?" + +"Ower weel I ken," she answered, "it's Mr. McLean." + +"McLean!" he echoed scornfully, "ay, I've heard that's one of the names +he goes by, but hearken, and I'll tell you wha he really is. That's the +scoundrel Stroke!" + +No wonder Gavinia was flabbergasted. "Wha are you then?" she cried. + +"I'm the Champion of Dames," he replied loftily, and before she had +recovered from this he was stalking Mr. McLean in the cemetery. + +Miss Kitty sleeps in a beautiful hollow called the Basin, but the stone +put up to her memory hardly marks the spot now, for with a score of +others it was blown on its face by the wind that uprooted so many trees +in the Den, and as it fell it lies. From the Basin to the rough road +that clings like a belt to the round cemetery dyke is little more than a +jump, and shortly after Miss Kitty's grave had been pointed out to him. +Mr. McLean was seen standing there hat in hand by a man on the road. +This man was Dr. McQueen hobbling home from the Forest Muir; he did not +hobble as a rule, but hobble everyone must on that misshapen brae, +except Murdoch Gelatley, who, being short in one leg elsewhere, is here +the only straight man. McQueen's sharp eyes, however, picked out not +only the stranger but Tommy crouching behind Haggart's stone, and him +did the doctor's famous crook staff catch in the neck and whisk across +the dyke. + +"What man is that you're watching, you mysterious loon?" McQueen +demanded, curiously; but of course Tommy would not divulge so big a +secret. Now the one weakness of this large-hearted old bachelor (perhaps +it is a professional virtue) was a devouring inquisitiveness, and he +would be troubled until he discovered who was the stranger standing in +such obvious emotion by the side of an old grave. "Well, you must come +back with me to the surgery, for I want you to run an errand for me," he +said testily, hoping to pump the boy by the way, but Tommy dived beneath +his stick and escaped. This rasped the doctor's temper, which was +unfortunate for Grizel, whom he caught presently peeping in at his +surgery window. A dozen times of late she had wondered whether she +should ask him to visit her mamma, and though the Painted Lady had +screamed in terror at the proposal, being afraid of doctors, Grizel +would have ventured ere now, had it not been for her mistaken conviction +that he was a hard man, who would only flout her. It had once come to +her ears that he had said a woman like her mamma could demoralize a +whole town, with other harsh remarks, doubtless exaggerated in the +repetition, and so he was the last man she dared think of going to for +help, when he should have been the first. Nevertheless she had come now, +and a soft word from him, such as he gave most readily to all who were +in distress, would have drawn her pitiful tale from her, but he was in a +grumpy mood, and had heard none of the rumors about her mother's being +ill, which indeed were only common among the Monypenny children, and his +first words checked her confidences. "What are you hanging about my open +window for?" he cried sharply. + +"Did you think I wanted to steal anything?" replied the indignant child. + +"I won't say but what I had some such thait." + +She turned to leave him, but he hooked her with his staff. "As you're +here," he said, "will you go an errand for me?" + +"No," she told him promptly; "I don't like you." + +"There's no love lost between us," he replied, "for I think you're the +dourest lassie I ever clapped eyes on, but there's no other litlin +handy, so you must do as you are bid, and take this bottle to +Ballingall's." + +"Is it a medicine bottle?" she asked, with sudden interest. + +"Yes, it's medicine. Do you know Ballingall's house in the West town +end?" + +"Ballingall who has the little school?" + +"The same, but I doubt he'll keep school no longer." + +"Is he dying?" + +"I'm afraid there's no doubt of it. Will you go?" + +"I should love to go," she cried. + +"Love!" he echoed, looking at her with displeasure. "You can't love to +go, so talk no more nonsense, but go, and I'll give you a bawbee." + +"I don't want a bawbee," she said. "Do you think they will let me go in +to see Ballingall?" + +The doctor frowned. "What makes you want to see a dying man?" he +demanded. + +"I should just love to see him!" she exclaimed, and she added +determinedly, "I won't give up the bottle until they let me in." + +He thought her an unpleasant, morbid girl, but "that is no affair of +mine," he said shrugging his shoulders, and he gave her the bottle to +deliver. Before taking it to Ballingall's, however, she committed a +little crime. She bought an empty bottle at the 'Sosh, and poured into +it some of the contents of the medicine bottle, which she then filled up +with water. She dared try no other way now of getting medicine for her +mother, and was too ignorant to know that there are different drugs for +different ailments. + +Grizel not only contrived to get in to see Ballingan but stayed by his +side for several hours, and when she came out it was night-time. On her +way home she saw a light moving in the Den, where she had expected to +play no more, and she could not prevent her legs from running joyously +toward it. So when Corp, rising out of the darkness, deftly cut her +throat, she was not so angry as she should have been. + +"I'm so glad we are to play again, after all, Corp," she said; but he +replied grandly, "Thou little kennest wha you're speaking to, my gentle +jade." + +He gave a curious hitch to his breeches, but it only puzzled her. "I +wear gallowses no more," he explained, lifting his waistcoat to show +that his braces now encircled him as a belt, but even then she did not +understand. "Know, then," said Corp, sternly, "I am Ben the Boatswain." + +"And am I not the Lady Griselda any more?" she asked. + +"I'm no sure," he confessed; "but if you are, there's a price on your +head." + +"What is Tommy?" + +"I dinna ken yet, but Gavinia says he telled her he's Champion of Damns. +I kenna what Elspeth'll say to that." + +Grizel was starting for the Lair, but he caught her by the skirt. + +"Is he not at the Lair?" she inquired. + +"We knowest it not," he answered gravely. "We're looking for't," he +added with some awe; "we've been looking for't this three year." Then, +in a louder voice, "If you can guide us to it, my pretty trifle, you'll +be richly rewarded." + +"But where is he? Don't you know?" + +"Fine I knowest, but it wouldna be mous to tell you, for I kenna whether +you be friend or foe. What's that you're carrying?" + +"It is a--a medicine bottle." + +"Gie me a sook!" + +"No." + +"Just one," begged Corp, "and I'll tell you where he is." + +He got his way, and smacked his lips unctuously. + +"Now, where is Tommy?" + +"Put your face close to mine," said Corp, and then he whispered +hoarsely, "He's in a spleet new Lair, writing out bills wi' a' his +might, offering five hunder crowns reward for Stroke's head, dead or +alive!" + + * * * * * + +The new haunt was a deserted house, that stood, very damp, near a little +waterfall to the east of the Den. Bits of it well planted in the marsh +adhere doggedly together to this day, but even then the roof was off and +the chimney lay in a heap on the ground, like blankets that have slipped +off a bed. + +This was the good ship Ailie, lying at anchor, man-of-war, thirty guns, +a cart-wheel to steer it by, T. Sandys, commander. + +On the following Saturday, Ben the Boatswain piped all hands, and Mr. +Sandys delivered a speech, of the bluff, straightforward kind that +sailors love. Here, unfortunately, it must be condensed. He reminded +them that three years had passed since their gracious queen (cheers) +sent them into these seas to hunt down the Pretender (hisses). Their +ship had been christened the Ailie, because its object was to avenge the +insults offered by the Pretender to a lady of that name for whom +everyone of them would willingly die. Like all his race the Pretender, +or Stroke, as he called himself, was a torment to single women; he had +not only stolen all this lady's wealth, but now he wanted to make her +walk the plank, a way of getting rid of enemies the mere mention of +which set the blood of all honest men boiling (cheers). As yet they had +not succeeded in finding Stroke's Lair, though they knew it to be in one +of the adjoining islands, but they had suffered many privations, twice +their gallant vessel had been burned to the water's edge, once she had +been sunk, once blown into the air, but had that dismayed them? + +Here the Boatswain sent round a whisper, and they all cried loyally, +"Ay, ay, sir." + +He had now news for them that would warm their hearts like grog. He had +not discovered the Lair, but he had seen Stroke, he had spoken to him! +Disguised as a boy he had tracked the Jacobite and found him skulking in +the house of the unhappy Ailie. After blustering for a little Stroke had +gone on his knees and offered not only to cease persecuting this lady +but to return to France. Mr. Sandys had kicked him into a standing +posture and then left him. But this clemency had been ill repaid. Stroke +had not returned to France. He was staying at the Quharity Arms, a +Thrums inn, where he called himself McLean. It had gone through the town +like wildfire that he had written to someone in Redlintie to send him on +another suit of clothes and four dickies. No one suspected his real +character, but all noted that he went to the unhappy Ailie's house +daily, and there was a town about it. Ailie was but a woman, and women +could not defend themselves "(Boatswain, put Grizel in irons if she +opens her mouth)," and so the poor thing had been forced to speak to +him, and even to go walks with him. Her life was in danger, and before +now Mr. Sandys would have taken him prisoner, but the queen had said +these words, "Noble Sandys, destroy the Lair," and the best way to +discover this horrid spot was to follow Stroke night and day until he +went to it. Then they would burn it to the ground, put him on board the +Ailie, up with the jib-boom sail, and away to the Tower of London. + +At the words "Tower of London," Ben cried "Tumble up there!" which was +the signal for three such ringing cheers as only British tars are +capable of. Three? To be exact only two and a half, for the third +stopped in the middle, as if the lid had suddenly been put on. + +What so startled them was the unexpected appearance in their midst of +the very man Tommy had been talking of. Taking a stroll through the Den, +Mr. McLean had been drawn toward the ruin by the first cheers, and had +arrived in time to learn who and what he really was. + +"Stroke!" gasped one small voice. + +The presumptuous man folded his arms. "So, Sandys," he said, in hollow +tones, "we meet again!" + +Even Grizel got behind Tommy, and perhaps it was this that gave him +spunk to say tremulously, "Wh-what are you doing her?" + +"I have come," replied the ruddy Pretender, "to defy you, ay, proud +Sandys, to challenge thee to the deed thou pratest of. I go from here to +my Lair. Follow me, if thou darest!" + +He brought his hand down with a bang upon the barrel, laughed +disdainfully, and springing over the vessel's side was at once lost in +the darkness. Instead of following, all stood transfixed, gazing at the +barrel, on which lay five shillings. + +"He put them there when he slammed it!" + +"Losh behears! there's a shilling to ilka ane o' us." + +"I winna touch the siller," said Sandys, moodily. + +"What?" cried Gavinia. + +"I tell you it's a bribe." + +"Do you hear him?" screamed Gavinia. "He says we're no to lay hands +on't! Corp, where's your tongue?" + +But even in that trying moment Corp's trust in Tommy shone out +beautiful and strong. "Dinna be feared, Gavinia," he whispered, "he'll +find a wy." + +"Lights out and follow Stroke!" was the order, and the crew at once +scattered in pursuit, Mr. Sandys remaining behind a moment to--to put +something in his pocket. + +Mr. McLean gave them a long chase, walking demurely when lovers were in +sight, but at other times doubling, jumping, even standing on eminences +and crowing insultingly, like a cock, and not until he had only breath +left to chuckle did the stout man vanish from the Den. Elspeth, now a +cabin-boy, was so shaken by the realism of the night's adventures that +Gavinia (able seaman) took her home, and when Mr. Sandys and his +Boatswain met at the Cuttle Well neither could tell where Grizel was. + +"She had no business to munt without my leave," Tommy said sulkily. + +"No, she hadna. Is she the Lady Griselda yet?" + +"Not her, she's the Commander's wife." + +Ben shook his head, for this, he felt, was the one thing Tommy could not +do. "Well, then," growled Tommy, "if she winna be that, she'll have to +serve before the mast, for I tell you plain I'll have no single women on +board." + +"And what am I, forby Ben the Boatswain?" + +"Nothing. Honest men has just one name." + +"What! I'm just one single man?" Corp was a little crestfallen. "It's a +come down," he said, with a sigh, "mind, I dinna grumble, but it's a +come down." + +"And you dinna have 'Methinks' now either," Tommy announced pitilessly. + +Corp had dreaded this. "I'll be gey an' lonely without it," he said, +with some dignity, "and it was the usefulest swear I kent o'. +'Methinks!' I used to roar at Mason Malcolm's collie, and the crittur +came in ahint in a swite o' fear. Losh, Tommy, is that you blooding?" + +There was indeed an ugly gash on Tommy's hand. "You've been hacking at +yoursel' again," said the distressed Corp, who knew that in his +enthusiasm Tommy had more than once drawn blood from himself. "When you +take it a' so real as that," he said, uncomfortably "I near think we +should give it up." + +Tommy stamped his foot. "Take tent o' yoursel'!" he cried threateningly. +"When I was tracking Stroke I fell in with one of his men, and we had a +tussle. He pinked me in the hand, but 'tis only a scratch, bah! He was +carrying treasure, and I took it from him." + +Ben whistled. "Five shillings?" he asked, slapping his knee. + +"How did you know?" demanded Tommy, frowning, and then they tried to +stare each other down. + +"I thought I saw you pouching it," Corp ventured to say. + +"Boatswain!" + +"I mean," explained Corp hurriedly, "I mean that I kent you would find a +wy. Didest thou kill the Jacobite rebel?" + +"He lies but a few paces off," replied Tommy, "and already the vultures +are picking his bones." + +"So perish all Victoria's enemies," said Ben the Boatswain, loyally, but +a sudden fear made him add, with a complete change of voice, "You dinna +chance to ken his name?" + +"Ay, I had marked him before," answered Tommy, "he was called Corp of +Corp." + +Ben the Boatswain rose, sat down, rose again, "Tommy," he said, wiping +his brow with his sleeve, "come awa' hame!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +THE LONGER CATECHISM + + +In the meantime Mr. McLean was walking slowly to the Quharity Arms, +fanning his face with his hat, and in the West town end he came upon +some boys who had gathered with offensive cries round a girl in a lustre +jacket. A wave of his stick put them to flight, but the girl only +thanked him with a look, and entered a little house the window of which +showed a brighter light than its neighbors. Dr. McQueen came out of this +house a moment afterwards, and as the two men now knew each other +slightly, they walked home together, McLean relating humorously how he +had spent the evening. "And though Commander Sandys means to incarcerate +me in the Tower of London," he said, "he did me a good service the other +day, and I feel an interest in him." + +"What did the inventive sacket do?" the doctor asked inquisitively; but +McLean, who had referred to the incident of the pass-book, affected not +to hear. "Miss Ailie has told me his history," he said, "and that he +goes to the University next year." + +"Or to the herding," put in McQueen, dryly. + +"Yes, I heard that was the alternative, but he should easily carry a +bursary; he is a remarkable boy." + +"Ay, but I'm no sure that it's the remarkable boys who carry the +bursaries. However, if you have taken a fancy to him you should hear +what Mr. Cathro has to say on the subject; for my own part I have been +more taken up with one of his band lately than with himself--a lassie, +too." + +"She who went into that house just before you came out?" + +"The same, and she is the most puzzling bit of womankind I ever fell in +with." + +"She looked an ordinary girl enough," said Mr. McLean. + +The doctor chuckled. "Man," he said, "in my time I have met all kinds of +women except ordinary ones. What would you think if I told you that this +ordinary girl had been spending three or four hours daily in that house +entirely because there was a man dying in it?" + +"Some one she had an affection for?" + +"My certie, no! I'm afraid it is long since anybody had an affection for +shilpit, hirpling, old Ballingall, and as for this lassie Grizel, she +had never spoken to him until I sent her on an errand to his house a +week ago. He was a single man (like you and me), without womenfolk, a +school-master of his own making, and in the smallest way, and his one +attraction to her was that he was on his death-bed. Most lassies of her +age skirl to get away from the presence of death, but she prigged, sir, +fairly prigged, to get into it!" + +"Ah, I prefer less uncommon girls," McLean said. "They should not have +let her have her wish; it can only do her harm." + +"That is another curious thing," replied the doctor. "It does not seem +to have done her harm; rather it has turned her from being a dour, +silent crittur into a talkative one, and that, I take it, is a sign of +grace." + +He sighed, and added: "Not that I can get her to talk of herself and her +mother. (There is a mystery about them, you understand.) No, the +obstinate brat will tell me nothing on that subject; instead of +answering my questions she asks questions of me--an endless rush of +questions, and all about Ballingall. How did I know he was dying? When +you put your fingers on their wrist, what is it you count? which is the +place where the lungs are? when you tap their chest what do you listen +for? are they not dying as long as they can rise now and then, and dress +and go out? when they are really dying do they always know it +themselves? If they don't know it, is that a sign that they are not so +ill as you think them? When they don't know they are dying, is it best +to keep it from them in case they should scream with terror? and so on +in a spate of questions, till I called her the Longer Catechism." + +"And only morbid curiosity prompted her?" + +"Nothing else," said the confident doctor; "if there had been anything +else I should have found it out, you may be sure. However, unhealthily +minded though she be, the women who took their turn at Ballingall's +bedside were glad of her help." + +"The more shame to them," McLean remarked warmly; but the doctor would +let no one, save himself, miscall the women of Thrums. + +"Ca' canny," he retorted. "The women of this place are as overdriven as +the men, from the day they have the strength to turn a pirn-wheel to the +day they crawl over their bed-board for the last time, but never yet +have I said, 'I need one of you to sit up all night wi' an unweel body,' +but what there were half a dozen willing to do it. They are a grand +race, sir, and will remain so till they find it out themselves." + +"But of what use could a girl of twelve or fourteen be to them?" + +"Use!" McQueen cried. "Man, she has been simply a treasure, and but for +one thing I would believe it was less a morbid mind than a sort of +divine instinct for nursing that took her to Ballingall's bedside. The +women do their best in a rough and ready way; but, sir, it cowed to see +that lassie easying a pillow for Ballingall's head, or changing a sheet +without letting in the air, or getting a poultice on his back without +disturbing the one on his chest. I had just to let her see how to do +these things once, and after that Ballingall complained if any other +soul touched him." + +"Ah," said McLean, "then perhaps I was uncharitable, and the nurse's +instinct is the true explanation." + +"No, you're wrong again, though I might have been taken in as well as +you but for the one thing I spoke of. Three days ago Ballingall had a +ghost of a chance of pulling through, I thought, and I told the lassie +that if he did, the credit would be mainly hers. You'll scarcely believe +it, but, upon my word, she looked disappointed rather than pleased, and +she said to me, quite reproachfully, 'You told me he was sure to die!' +What do you make of that?" + +"It sounds unnatural." + +"It does, and so does what followed. Do you know what straiking is?" + +"Arraying the corpse for the coffin, laying it out, in short, is it +not?" + +"Ay, ay. Well, it appears that Grizel had prigged with the women to let +her be present at Ballingall's straiking, and they had refused." + +"I should think so," exclaimed McQueen, with a shudder. + +"But that's not all. She came to me in her difficulty, and said that if +I didna promise her this privilege she would nurse Ballingall no more." + +"Ugh! That shows at least that pity for him had not influenced her." + +"No, she cared not a doit for him. I question if she's the kind that +could care for anyone. It's plain by her thrawn look when you speak to +her about her mother that she has no affection even for her. However, +there she was, prepared to leave Ballingall to his fate if I did not +grant her request, and I had to yield to her." + +"You promised?" + +"I did, sore against the grain, but I accept the responsibility. You are +pained, but you don't know what a good nurse means to a doctor." + +"Well?" + +"Well, he died after all, and the straiking is going on now. You saw her +go in." + +"I think you could have been excused for breaking your word and turning +her out." + +"To tell the truth," said the doctor, "I had the same idea when I saw +her enter, and I tried to shoo her to the door, but she cried, 'You +promised, you _can't_ break a promise!' and the morbid brat that she is +looked so horrified at the very notion of anybody's breaking a promise +that I slunk away as if she had right on her side." + +"No wonder the little monster is unpopular," was McLean's comment. "The +children hereabout seem to take to her as little as I do, for I had to +drive away some who were molesting her. I am sorry I interfered now." + +"I can tell you why they t'nead her," replied the doctor, and he +repeated the little that was known in Thrums of the Painted Lady, "And +you see the womenfolk are mad because they can find out so little about +her, where she got her money, for instance, and who are the 'gentlemen' +that are said to visit her at Double Dykes. They have tried many ways of +drawing Grizel, from heckle biscuits and parlies to a slap in the face, +but neither by coaxing nor squeezing will you get an egg out of a sweer +hen, and so they found. 'The dour little limmer,' they say, 'stalking +about wi' all her blinds down,' and they are slow to interfere when +their laddies call her names. It's a pity for herself that she's not +more communicative, for if she would just satisfy the women's curiosity +she would find them full of kindness. A terrible thing, Mr. McLean, is +curiosity. The Bible says that the love of money is the root of all +evil, but we must ask Mr. Dishart if love of money is not a misprint for +curiosity. And you won't find men boring their way into other folk's +concerns; it is a woman's failing, essentially a woman's." This was the +doctor's pet topic, and he pursued it until they had to part. He had +opened his door and was about to enter when he saw Gavinia passing on +her way home from the Den. + +"Come here, my lass," he called to her, and then said inquisitively, +"I'm told Mr. McLean is at his tea with Miss Ailie every day?" + +"And it's true," replied Gavinia, in huge delight, "and what's more, she +has given him some presents." + +"You say so, lassie! What were they now?" + +"I dinna ken," Gavinia had to admit, dejectedly. "She took them out o' +the ottoman, and it has aye been kept looked." + +McQueen looked very knowingly at her. "Will he, think you?" he asked +mysteriously. + +The maid seemed to understand, for she replied, promptly, "I hope he +will." + +"But he hasna spiered her as yet, you think?" + +"No," she said, "no, but he calls her Ailie, and wi' the gentry it's but +one loup frae that to spiering." + +"Maybe," answered the doctor, "but it's a loup they often bogle at. I'se +uphaud he's close on fifty, Gavinia?" + +"There's no denying he is by his best," she said regretfully, and then +added, with spirit, "but Miss Ailie's no heavy, and in thae grite arms +o' his he could daidle her as if she were an infant." + +This bewildered McQueen, and he asked, "What are you blethering about, +Gavinia?" to which she replied, regally, "Wha carries me, wears me!" The +doctor concluded that it must be Den language. + +"And I hope he's good enough for her," continued Miss Ailie's +warm-hearted maid, "for she deserves a good ane." + +"She does," McQueen agreed heartily; "ay, and I believe he is, for he +breathes through his nose instead of through his mouth; and let me tell +you, Gavinia, that's the one thing to be sure of in a man before you +take him for better or worse." + +The astounded maid replied, "I'll ken better things than that about my +lad afore I take him," but the doctor assured her that it was the box +which held them all, "though you maun tell no one, lassie, for it's my +one discovery in five and thirty years of practice." + +Seeing that, despite his bantering tone, he was speaking seriously, she +pressed him for his meaning, but he only replied sadly, "You're like the +rest, Gavinia, I see it breaking out on you in spots." + +"An illness!" she cried, in alarm. + +"Ay, lassie, an illness called curiosity. I had just been telling Mr. +McLean that curiosity is essentially a woman's ailment, and up you come +ahint to prove it." He shook a finger at her reprovingly, and was +probably still reflecting on woman's ways when Grizel walked home at +midnight breathing through her nose, and Tommy fell asleep with his +mouth open. For Tommy could never have stood the doctor's test of a man. +In the painting of him, aged twenty-four, which was exhibited in the +Royal Academy, his lips meet firmly, but no one knew save himself how he +gasped after each sitting. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +BUT IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN MISS KITTY + + +The ottoman whence, as Gavinia said, Miss Ailie produced the presents +she gave to Mr. McLean, stood near the door of the blue-and-white room, +with a reel of thread between, to keep them apart forever. Except on +washing days it was of a genteel appearance, for though but a wooden +kist, it had a gay outer garment with frills, which Gavinia starched, +and beneath this was apparel of a private character that tied with +tapes. When Miss Ailie, pins in her mouth, was on her knees arraying the +ottoman, it might almost have been mistaken for a female child. + +The contents of the ottoman were a few trivial articles sewn or knitted +by Miss Kitty during her last illness, "just to keep me out of languor," +she would explain wistfully to her sister. She never told Miss Ailie +that they were intended for any special person; on the contrary, she +said, "Perhaps you may find someone they will be useful to," but almost +without her knowing it they always grew into something that would be +useful to Ivie McLean. + +"The remarkable thing is that they are an exact fit," the man said +about the slippers, and Miss Ailie nodded, but she did not think it +remarkable. + +There were also two fluffy little bags, and Miss Ailie had to explain +their use. "If you put your feet into them in bed," she faltered, +"they--they keep you warm." + +McLean turned hastily to something else, a smoking-cap. "I scarcely +think this can have been meant for me," he said; "you have forgotten how +she used to chide me for smoking." + +Miss Ailie had not forgotten. "But in a way," she replied, flushing a +little, "we--that is, Kitty--could not help admiring you for smoking. +There is something so--so dashing about it." + +"I was little worthy all the friendship you two gave me, Ailie," he told +her humbly, and he was nearly saying something to her then that he had +made up his mind to say. The time came a few days later. They had been +walking together on the hill, and on their return to the Dovecot he had +insisted, "in his old imperious way," on coming in to tea. Hearing +talking in the kitchen Miss Ailie went along the passage to discover +what company her maid kept; but before she reached the door, which was +ajar, she turned as if she had heard something dreadful and hurried +upstairs, signing to Mr. McLean, with imploring eyes, to follow her. +This at once sent him to the kitchen door. + +Gavinia was alone. She was standing in the middle of the floor, with +one arm crooked as if making believe that another's arm rested on it, +and over her head was a little muslin window-blind, representing a +bride's veil. Thus she was two persons, but she was also a third, who +addressed them in clerical tones. + +"Ivie McLean," she said as solemnly as tho' she were the Rev. Mr. +Dishart, "do you take this woman to be thy lawful wedded wife?" With +almost indecent haste she answered herself, "I do." + +"Alison Cray," she said next, "do you take this man to be thy lawful +wedded husband?" "I do." + +Just then the door shut softly; and Gavinia ran to see who had been +listening, with the result that she hid herself in the coal-cellar. + +While she was there, Miss Ailie and Mr. McLean were sitting in the +blue-and-white room very self-conscious, and Miss Ailie was speaking +confusedly of anything and everything, saying more in five minutes than +had served for the previous hour, and always as she slackened she read +an intention in his face that started her tongue upon another journey. +But, "Timid Ailie," he said at last, "do you think you can talk me +down?" and then she gave him a look of reproach that turned +treacherously into one of appeal, but he had the hardihood to continue; +"Ailie, do you need to be told what I want to say?" + +Miss Ailie stood quite still now, a stiff, thick figure, with a soft, +plain face and nervous hands. "Before you speak," she said, nervously, +"I have something to tell you that--perhaps then you will not say it. + +"I have always led you to believe," she began, trembling, "that I am +forty-nine. I am fifty-one." + +He would have spoken, but the look of appeal came back to her face, +asking him to make it easier for her by saying nothing. She took a pair +of spectacles from her pocket, and he divined what this meant before she +spoke. "I have avoided letting you see that I need them," she said. +"You--men don't like--" She tried to say it all in a rush, but the words +would not come. + +"I am beginning to be a little deaf," she went on. "To deceive you about +that, I have sometimes answered you without really knowing what you +said." + +"Anything more, Ailie?" + +"My accomplishments--they were never great, but Kitty and I thought my +playing of classical pieces--my fingers are not sufficiently pliable +now. And I--I forget so many things." + +"But, Ailie--" + +"Please let me tell you. I was reading a book, a story, last winter, and +one of the characters, an old maid, was held up to ridicule in it for +many little peculiarities that--that I recognized as my own. They had +grown upon me without my knowing that they made me ridiculous, and now +I--I have tried, but I cannot alter them." + +"Is that all, Ailie?" + +"No." + +The last seemed to be the hardest to say. Dusk had come on, and they +could not see each other well. She asked him to light the lamp, and his +back was toward her while he did it, wondering a little at her request. +When he turned, her hands rose like cowards to hide her head, but she +pulled them down. "Do you not see?" she said. + +"I see that you have done something to your hair," he answered, "I liked +it best the other way." + +Most people would have liked it best the other way. There was still a +good deal of it, but the "bun" in which it ended had gone strangely +small. "The rest was false," said Miss Ailie, with a painful effort; "at +least, it is my own, but it came out when--when Kitty died." + +She stopped, but he was silent. "That is all now," she said, softly; and +she waited for him to speak if he chose. He turned his head away +sharply, and Miss Ailie mistook his meaning. If she gave one little +sob--Well, it was but one, and then all the glory of womanhood came +rushing to her aid, and it unfurled its flag over her, whispering, "Now, +sweet daughter, now, strike for me," and she raised her head gallantly, +and for a moment in her life the old school-mistress was a queen. "I +shall ring for tea," she said, quietly and without a tremor; "do you +think there is anything so refreshing after a walk as a dish of tea?" + +She rang the bell, but its tinkle only made Gavinia secede farther into +the cellar, and that summons has not been answered to this day, and no +one seems to care, for while the wires were still vibrating Mr. McLean +had asked Miss Ailie to forgive him and marry him. + +Miss Ailie said she would, but, "Oh," she cried, "ten years ago it might +have been my Kitty. I would that it had been Kitty!" + +Miss Ailie was dear to him now, and ten years is a long time, and men +are vain. Mr. McLean replied, quite honestly, "I am not sure that I did +not always like you best," but that hurt her, and he had to unsay the +words. + +"I was a thoughtless fool ten years ago," he said, bitterly, and Miss +Ailie's answer came strangely from such timid lips. "Yes, you were!" she +exclaimed, passionately, and all the wrath, long pent up, with very +different feelings, in her gentle bosom, against the man who should have +adored her Kitty, leapt at that reproachful cry to her mouth and eyes, +and so passed out of her forever. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +TOMMY THE SCHOLAR + + +So Miss Ailie could be brave, but what a poltroon she was also! Three +calls did she make on dear friends, ostensibly to ask how a cold was or +to instruct them in a new device in Shetland wool, but really to +announce that she did not propose keeping school after the end of the +term--because--in short, Mr. Ivie McLean and she--that is he--and so on. +But though she had planned it all out so carefully, with at least three +capital ways of leading up to it, and knew precisely what they would +say, and pined to hear them say it, on each occasion shyness conquered +and she came away with the words unspoken. How she despised herself, and +how Mr. McLean laughed! He wanted to take the job off her hands by +telling the news to Dr. McQueen, who could be depended on to spread it +through the town, and Miss Ailie discovered with horror that his simple +plan was to say, "How are you, doctor? I just looked in to tell you that +Miss Ailie and I are to be married. Good afternoon." The audacity of +this captivated Miss Ailie even while it outraged her sense of decency. +To Redlintie went Mr. McLean, and returning next day drew from his +pocket something which he put on Miss Ailie's finger, and then she had +the idea of taking off her left glove in church, which would have +announced her engagement as loudly as though Mr. Dishart had included it +in his pulpit intimations. Religion, however, stopped her when she had +got the little finger out, and the Misses Finlayson, who sat behind and +knew she had an itchy something inside her glove, concluded that it was +her threepenny for the plate. As for Gavinia, like others of her class +in those days, she had never heard of engagement rings, and so it really +seemed as if Mr. McLean must call on the doctor after all. But "No," +said he, "I hit upon a better notion to-day in the Den," and to explain +this notion he produced from his pocket a large, vulgar bottle, which +shocked Miss Ailie, and indeed that bottle had not passed through the +streets uncommented on. + +Mr. McLean having observed this bottle afloat on the Silent Pool, had +fished it out with his stick, and its contents set him chuckling. They +consisted of a sheet of paper which stated that the bottle was being +flung into the sea in lat. 20, long. 40, by T. Sandys, Commander of the +Ailie, then among the breakers. Sandys had little hope of weathering the +gale, but he was indifferent to his own fate so long as his enemy did +not escape, and he called upon whatsoever loyal subjects of the Queen +should find this document to sail at once to lat. 20, long. 40, and +there cruise till they had captured the Pretender, _alias_ Stroke, and +destroyed his Lair. A somewhat unfavorable personal description of +Stroke was appended, with a map of the coast, and a stern warning to all +loyal subjects not to delay as one Ailie was in the villain's hands and +he might kill her any day. Victoria Regina would give five hundred +pounds for his head. The letter ended in manly style with the writer's +sending an affecting farewell message to his wife and little children. + +"And so while we are playing ourselves," said Mr. McLean to Miss Ailie, +"your favorite is seeking my blood." + +"Our favorite," interposed the school-mistress, and he accepted the +correction, for neither of them could forget that their present +relations might have been very different had it not been for Tommy's +faith in the pass-book. The boy had shown a knowledge of the human +heart, in Miss Ailie's opinion, that was simply wonderful; inspiration +she called it, and though Ivie thought it a happy accident, he did not +call it so to her. Tommy's father had been the instrument in bringing +these two together originally, and now Tommy had brought them together +again; there was fate in it, and if the boy was of the right stuff +McLean meant to reward him. + +"I see now," he said to Miss Ailie, "a way of getting rid of our +fearsome secret and making my peace with Sandys at one fell blow." He +declined to tell her more, but presently he sought Gavinia, who dreaded +him nowadays because of his disconcerting way of looking at her +inquiringly and saying "I do!" + +"You don't happen to know, Gavinia," he asked, "whether the good ship +Ailie weathered the gale of the 15th instant? If it did," he went on, +"Commander Sandys will learn something to his advantage from a bottle +that is to be cast into the ocean this evening." + +Gavinia thought she heard the chink of another five shillings, and her +mouth opened so wide that a chaffinch could have built therein. "Is he +to look for a bottle in the pond?" she asked, eagerly. + +"I do," replied McLean with such solemnity that she again retired to the +coal-cellar. + +That evening Mr. McLean cast a bottle into the Silent Pool, and +subsequently called on Mr. Cathro, to whom he introduced himself as one +interested in Master Thomas Sandys. He was heartily received, but at the +name of Tommy, Cathro heaved a sigh that could not pass unnoticed. "I +see you don't find him an angel," said Mr. McLean, politely. + +"'Deed, sir, there are times when I wish he was an angel," the dominie +replied so viciously that McLean laughed. "And I grudge you that laugh," +continued Cathro, "for your Tommy Sandys has taken from me the most +precious possession a teacher can have--my sense of humor." + +"He strikes me as having a considerable sense of humor himself." + +"Well he may, Mr. McLean, for he has gone off with all mine. But bide a +wee till I get in the tumblers, and. I'll tell you the latest about +him--if what you want to hear is just the plain exasperating truth. + +"His humor that you spoke of," resumed the school-master presently, +addressing his words to the visitor, and his mind to a toddy ladle of +horn, "is ill to endure in a school where the understanding is that the +dominie makes all the jokes (except on examination-day, when the +ministers get their yearly fling), but I think I like your young friend +worst when he is deadly serious. He is constantly playing some new +part--playing is hardly the word though, for into each part he puts an +earnestness that cheats even himself, until he takes to another. I +suppose you want me to give you some idea of his character, and I could +tell you what it is at any particular moment; but it changes, sir, I do +assure you, almost as quickly as the circus-rider flings off his layers +of waistcoats. A single puff of wind blows him from one character to +another, and he may be noble and vicious, and a tyrant and a slave, and +hard as granite and melting as butter in the sun, all in one forenoon. +All you can be sure of is that whatever he is he will be it in excess." + +"But I understood," said McLean, "that at present he is solely engaged +on a war of extermination in the Den." + +"Ah, those exploits, I fancy, are confined to Saturday nights, and +unfortunately his Saturday debauch does not keep him sober for the rest +of the week, which we demand of respectable characters in these parts. +For the last day or two, for instance, he has been in mourning." + +"I had not heard of that." + +"No, I daresay not, and I'll give you the facts, if you'll fill your +glass first. But perhaps--" here the dominie's eyes twinkled as if a +gleam of humor had been left him after all--"perhaps you have been more +used of late to ginger wine?" + +The visitor received the shock impassively as if he did not know he had +been hit, and Cathro proceeded with his narrative. "Well, for a day or +two Tommy Sandys has been coming to the school in a black jacket with +crape on the cuffs, and not only so, he has sat quiet and forlorn-like +at his desk as if he had lost some near and dear relative. Now I knew +that he had not, for his only relative is a sister whom you may have +seen at the Hanky School, and both she and Aaron Latta are hearty. Yet, +sir (and this shows the effect he has on me), though I was puzzled and +curious I dared not ask for an explanation." + +"But why not?" was the visitor's natural question. + +"Because, sir, he is such a mysterious little sacket," replied Cathro, +testily, "and so clever at leading you into a hole, that it's not +chancey to meddle with him, and I could see through the corner of my eye +that, for all this woeful face, he was proud of it, and hoped I was +taking note. For though sometimes his emotion masters him completely, at +other times he can step aside as it were, and take an approving look at +it. That is a characteristic of him, and not the least maddening one." + +"But you solved the mystery somehow, I suppose?" + +"I got at the truth to-day by an accident, or rather my wife discovered +it for me. She happened to call in at the school on a domestic matter I +need not trouble you with (sal, she needna have troubled me with it +either!), and on her way up the yard she noticed a laddie called Lewis +Doig playing with other ungodly youths at the game of kickbonnety. +Lewis's father, a gentleman farmer, was buried jimply a fortnight since, +and such want of respect for his memory made my wife give the loon a +dunt on the head with a pound of sugar, which she had just bought at the +'Sosh. He turned on her, ready to scart or spit or run, as seemed +wisest, and in a klink her woman's eye saw what mine had overlooked, +that he was not even wearing a black jacket. Well, she told him what the +slap was for, and his little countenance cleared at once. 'Oh' says he, +'that's all right, Tommy and me has arranged it,' and he pointed +blithely to a corner of the yard where Tommy was hunkering by himself in +Lewis's jacket, and wiping his mournful eyes with Lewis's hanky. I +daresay you can jalouse the rest, but I kept Lewis behind after the +school skailed, and got a full confession out of him. He had tried hard, +he gave me to understand, to mourn fittingly for his father, but the +kickbonnety season being on, it was up-hill work, and he was relieved +when Tommy volunteered to take it off his hands. Tommy's offer was to +swop jackets every morning for a week or two, and thus properly attired +to do the mourning for him." + +The dominie paused, and regarded his guest quizzically. "Sir," he said +at length, "laddies are a queer growth; I assure you there was no +persuading Lewis that it was not a right and honorable compact." + +"And what payment," asked McLean, laughing, "did Tommy demand from Lewis +for this service?" + +"Not a farthing, sir--which gives another uncanny glint into his +character. When he wants money there's none so crafty at getting it, but +he did this for the pleasure of the thing, or, as he said to Lewis, 'to +feel what it would be like.' That, I tell you, is the nature of the +sacket, he has a devouring desire to try on other folk's feelings, as if +they were so many suits of clothes." + +"And from your account he makes them fit him too." + +"My certie, he does, and a lippie in the bonnet more than that." + +So far the school-master had spoken frankly, even with an occasional grin +at his own expense, but his words came reluctantly when he had to speak +of Tommy's prospects at the bursary examinations. "I would rather say +nothing on that head," he said, almost coaxingly, "for the laddie has a +year to reform in yet, and it's never safe to prophesy." + +"Still I should have thought that you could guess pretty accurately how +the boys you mean to send up in a year's time are likely to do? You have +had a long experience, and, I am told, a glorious one." + +"'Deed, there's no denying it," answered the dominie, with a pride he +had won the right to wear. "If all the ministers, for instance, I have +turned out in this bit school were to come back together, they could +hold the General Assembly in the square." + +He lay back in his big chair, a complacent dominie again. "Guess the +chances of my laddies!" he cried, forgetting what he had just said, and +that there was a Tommy to bother him. "I tell you, sir, that's a matter +on which I'm never deceived, I can tell the results so accurately that a +wise Senatus would give my lot the bursaries I say they'll carry, +without setting them down to examination-papers at all." And for the +next half-hour he was reciting cases in proof of his sagacity. + +"Wonderful!" chimed in McLean. "I see it is evident you can tell me how +Tommy Sandys will do," but at that Cathro's rush of words again subsided +into a dribble. + +"He's the worst Latinist that ever had the impudence to think of +bursaries," he groaned. + +"And his Greek--" asked McLean, helping on the conversation as far as +possible. + +"His Greek, sir, could be packed in a pill-box." + +"That does not sound promising. But the best mathematicians are +sometimes the worst linguists." + +"His Greek is better than his mathematics," said Cathro, and he fell +into lamentation. "I have had no luck lately," he sighed. "The laddies I +have to prepare for college are second-raters, and the vexing thing is, +that when a real scholar is reared in Thrums, instead of his being +handed over to me for the finishing, they send him to Mr. Ogilvy in +Glenquharity. Did Miss Ailie ever mention Gavin Dishart to you--the +minister's son? I just craved to get the teaching of that laddie, he was +the kind you can cram with learning till there's no room left for +another spoonful, and they bude send him to Mr. Ogilvy, and you'll see +he'll stand high above my loons in the bursary list. And then Ogilvy +will put on sic airs that there will be no enduring him. Ogilvy and I, +sir, we are engaged in an everlasting duel; when we send students to the +examinations, it is we two who are the real competitors, but what chance +have I, when he is represented by a Gavin Dishart and my man is Tommy +Sandys?" + +McLean was greatly disappointed. "Why send Tommy up at all if he is so +backward?" he said. "You are sure you have not exaggerated his +deficiencies?" + +"Well, not much at any rate. But he baffles me; one day I think him a +perfect numskull, and the next he makes such a show of the small drop +of scholarship he has that I'm not sure but what he may be a genius." + +"That sounds better. Does he study hard?" + +"Study! He is the most careless whelp that ever--" + +"But if I were to give him an inducement to study?" + +"Such as?" asked Cathro, who could at times be as inquisitive as the +doctor. + +"We need not go into that. But suppose it appealed to him?" + +Cathro considered. "To be candid," he said, "I don't think he could +study, in the big meaning of the word. I daresay I'm wrong, but I have a +feeling that whatever knowledge that boy acquires he will dig out of +himself. There is something inside him, or so I think at times, that is +his master, and rebels against book-learning. No, I can't tell what it +is; when we know that we shall know the real Tommy." + +"And yet," said McLean, curiously, "you advise his being allowed to +compete for a bursary. That, if you will excuse my saying so, sounds +foolish to me." + +"It can't seem so foolish to you," replied Cathro, scratching his head, +"as it seems to me six days in seven." + +"And you know that Aaron Latta has sworn to send him to the herding if +he does not carry a bursary. Surely the wisest course would be to +apprentice him now to some trade--" + +"What trade would not be the worse of him? He would cut off his fingers +with a joiner's saw, and smash them with a mason's mell; put him in a +brot behind a counter, and in some grand, magnanimous mood he would sell +off his master's things for nothing; make a clerk of him, and he would +only ravel the figures; send him to the soldiering, and he would have a +sudden impulse to fight on the wrong side. No, no, Miss Ailie says he +has a gift for the ministry, and we must cling to that." + +In thus sheltering himself behind Miss Ailie, where he had never skulked +before, the dominie showed how weak he thought his position, and he +added, with a brazen laugh, "Then if he does distinguish himself at the +examinations I can take the credit for it, and if he comes back in +disgrace I shall call you to witness that I only sent him to them at her +instigation." + +"All which," maintained McLean, as he put on his top-coat, "means that +somehow, against your better judgment, you think he may distinguish +himself after all." + +"You've found me out," answered Cathro, half relieved, half sorry. "I +had no intention of telling you so much, but as you have found me out +I'll make a clean breast of it. Unless something unexpected happens to +the laddie--unless he take to playing at scholarship as if it were a +Jacobite rebellion, for instance--he shouldna have the ghost of a chance +of a bursary, and if he were any other boy as ill-prepared I should be +ashamed to send him up, but he is Tommy Sandys, you see, and--it is a +terrible thing to say, but it's Gospel truth, it's Gospel truth--I'm +trusting to the possibility of his diddling the examiners!" + +It was a startling confession for a conscientious dominie, and Cathro +flung out his hands as if to withdraw the words, but his visitor would +have no tampering with them. "So that sums up Tommy, so far as you know +him," he said as he bade his host good-night. + +"It does," Cathro admitted, grimly, "but if what you wanted was a +written certificate of character I should like to add this, that never +did any boy sit on my forms whom I had such a pleasure in thrashing." + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +END OF THE JACOBITE RISING + + +In the small hours of the following night the pulse of Thrums stopped +for a moment, and then went on again, but the only watcher remained +silent, and the people rose in the morning without knowing that they had +lost one of their number while they slept. In the same ignorance they +toiled through a long day. + +It was a close October day in the end of a summer that had lingered to +give the countryside nothing better than a second crop of haws. Beneath +the beeches leaves lay in yellow heaps like sliced turnip, and over all +the strath was a pink haze; the fields were singed brown, except where a +recent ploughing gave them a mourning border. From early morn men, women +and children (Tommy among them) were in the fields taking up their +potatoes, half-a-dozen gatherers at first to every drill, and by noon it +seemed a dozen, though the new-comers were but stout sacks, now able to +stand alone. By and by heavy-laden carts were trailing into Thrums, +dog-tired toilers hanging on behind, not to be dragged, but for an +incentive to keep them trudging, boys and girls falling asleep on top +of the load, and so neglecting to enjoy the ride which was their +recompense for lifting. A growing mist mixed with the daylight, and +still there were a few people out, falling over their feet with fatigue; +it took silent possession, and then the shadowy forms left in the fields +were motionless and would remain there until carted to garrets and +kitchen corners and other winter quarters on Monday morning. There were +few gad-abouts that Saturday night. Washings were not brought in, though +Mr. Dishart had preached against the unseemly sight of linen hanging on +the line on the Sabbath-day. Innes, stravaiging the square and wynds in +his apple-cart, jingled his weights in vain, unable to shake even +moneyed children off their stools, and when at last he told his beast to +go home they took with them all the stir of the town. Family exercise +came on early in many houses, and as the gude wife handed her man the +Bible she said entreatingly, "A short ane." After that one might have +said that no earthly knock could bring them to their doors, yet within +an hour the town was in a ferment. + +When Tommy and Elspeth reached the Den the mist lay so thick that they +had to feel their way through it to the _Ailie_, where they found +Gavinia alone and scared. "Was you peeping in, trying to fleg me twa +three minutes syne?" she asked, eagerly, and when they shook their +heads, she looked cold with fear. + +"As sure as death," she said, "there was some living thing standing +there; I couldna see it for the rime, but I heard it breathing hard." + +Tommy felt Elspeth's hand begin to tremble, and he said "McLean!" +hastily, though he knew that McLean had not yet left the Quharity Arms. +Next moment Corp arrived with another story as unnerving. + +"Has Grizel no come yet?" he asked, in a troubled voice. "Tommy, hearken +to this, a light has been burning in Double Dykes and the door swinging +open a' day! I saw it mysel', and so did Willum Dods." + +"Did you go close?" + +"Na faags! Willum was hol'ing and I was lifting, so we hadna time in the +daylight, and wha would venture near the Painted Lady's house on sic a +night?" + +Even Tommy felt uneasy, but when Gavinia cried, "There's something +uncanny in being out the night; tell us what was in Mr. McLean's bottle, +Tommy, and syne we'll run hame," he became Commander Sandys again, and +replied, blankly, "What bottle?" + +"The ane I warned you he was to fling into the water; dinna dare tell me +you hinna got it." + +"I know not what thou art speaking about," said Tommy; "but it's a queer +thing, it's a queer thing, Gavinia"--here he fixed her with his +terrifying eye--"I happen to have found a--another bottle," and still +glaring at her he explained that he had found his bottle floating on +the horizon. It contained a letter to him, which he now read aloud. It +was signed "The Villain Stroke, his mark," and announced that the +writer, "tired of this relentless persecution," had determined to reform +rather than be killed. "Meet me at the Cuttle Well, on Saturday, when +the eight-o'clock bell is ringing," he wrote, "and I shall there make +you an offer for my freedom." + +The crew received this communication with shouts, Gavinia's cry of "Five +shillings, if no ten!" expressing the general sentiment, but it would +not have been like Tommy to think with them. "You poor things," he said, +"you just believe everything you're telled! How do I know that this is +not a trick of Stroke's to bring me here when he is some other gait +working mischief?" + +Corp was impressed, but Gavinia said, short-sightedly, "There's no sign +o't." + +"There's ower much sign o't," retorted Tommy. "What's this story about +Double Dykes? And how do we ken that there hasna been foul work there, +and this man at the bottom o't? I tell you, before the world's half an +hour older, I'll find out," and he looked significantly at Corp, who +answered, quaking, "I winna gang by mysel', no, Tommy, I winna!" + +So Tommy had to accompany him, saying, valiantly, "I'm no feared, and +this rime is fine for hodding in," to which Corp replied, as firmly, +"Neither am I, and we can aye keep touching cauld iron." Before they +were half way down the Double Dykes they got a thrill, for they +realized, simultaneously, that they were being followed. They stopped +and gripped each other hard, but now they could hear nothing. + +"The Painted Lady!" Corp whispered. + +"Stroke!" Tommy replied, as cautiously. He was excited rather than +afraid, and had the pluck to cry, "Wha's that? I see you!"--but no +answer came back through the mist, and now the boys had a double reason +for pressing forward. + +"Can you see the house, Corp?" + +"It should be here about, but it's smored in rime." + +"I'm touching the paling. I ken the road to the window now." + +"Hark! What's that?" + +It sounded like devil's music in front of them, and they fell back until +Corp remembered, "It maun be the door swinging open, and squealing and +moaning on its hinges. Tommy, I take ill wi' that. What can it mean?" + +"I'm here to find out." They reached the window where Tommy had watched +once before, and looking in together saw the room plainly by the light +of a lamp which stood on the spinet. There was no one inside, but +otherwise Tommy noticed little change. The fire was out, having +evidently burned itself done, the bed-clothes were in some disorder. To +avoid the creaking door, the boys passed round the back of the house to +the window of the other room. This room was without a light, but its +door stood open and sufficient light came from the kitchen to show that +it also was untenanted. It seemed to have been used as a lumber-room. + +The boys turned to go, passing near the front of the empty house, where +they shivered and stopped, mastered by a feeling they could not have +explained. The helpless door, like the staring eyes of a dead person, +seemed to be calling to them to shut it, and Tommy was about to steal +forward for this purpose when Corp gripped him and whispered that the +light had gone out. It was true, though Tommy disbelieved until they had +returned to the east window to make sure. + +"There maun be folk in the hoose, Tommy!" + +"You saw it was toom. The lamp had gone out itself, or else--what's +that?" + +It was the unmistakable closing of a door, softly but firmly. "The wind +has blown it to," they tried to persuade themselves, though aware that +there was not sufficient wind for this. After a long period of stillness +they gathered courage to go to the door and shake it. It was not only +shut, but locked. + +On their way back through the Double Dykes they were silent, listening +painfully but hearing nothing. But when they reached the Coffin Brig +Tommy said, "Dinna say nothing about this to Elspeth, it would terrify +her;" he was always so thoughtful for Elspeth. + +"But what do you think o't a'?" Corp said, imploringly. + +"I winna tell you yet," replied Tommy, cautiously. + +When they boarded the _Ailie_, where the two girls were very glad to see +them again, the eight-o'clock bell had begun to ring, and thus Tommy had +a reasonable excuse for hurrying his crew to the Cuttle Well without +saying anything of his expedition to Double Dykes, save that he had not +seen Grizel. At the Well they had not long to wait before Mr. McLean +suddenly appeared out of the mist, and to their astonishment Miss Ailie +was leaning on his arm. She was blushing and smiling too, in a way +pretty to see, though it spoilt the effect of Stroke's statement. + +The first thing Stroke did was to give up his sword to Tommy and to +apologize for its being an umbrella on account of the unsettled state of +the weather, and then Corp led three cheers, the captain alone declining +to join in, for he had an uneasy feeling that he was being ridiculed. + +"But I thought there were five of you," Mr. McLean said; "where is the +fifth?" + +"You ken best," replied Tommy, sulkily, and sulky he remained throughout +the scene, because he knew he was not the chief figure in it. Having +this knowledge to depress him, it is to his credit that he bore himself +with dignity throughout, keeping his crew so well in hand that they +dared not give expression to their natural emotions. + +"As you are aware, Mr. Sandys," McLean began solemnly, "I have come +here to sue for pardon. It is not yours to give, you reply, the Queen +alone can pardon, and I grant it; but, sir, is it not well known to all +of us that you can get anything out of her you like?" + +Tommy's eyes roved suspiciously, but the suppliant proceeded in the same +tone. "What are my offences? The first is that I have been bearing arms +(unwittingly) against the Throne; the second, that I have brought +trouble to the lady by my side, who has the proud privilege of calling +you her friend. But, Sandys, such amends as can come from an erring man +I now offer to make most contritely. Intercede with Her Majesty on my +behalf, and on my part I promise to war against her no more. I am +willing to settle down in the neighboring town as a law-abiding citizen, +whom you can watch with eagle eye. Say, what more wouldst thou of the +unhappy Stuart?" + +But Tommy would say nothing, he only looked doubtfully at Miss Ailie, +and that set McLean off again. "You ask what reparation I shall make to +this lady? Sandys, I tell thee that here also thou hast proved too +strong for me. In the hope that she would plead for me with you, I have +been driven to offer her my hand in marriage, and she is willing to take +me if thou grantest thy consent." + +At this Gavinia jumped with joy, and then cried, "Up wi' her!" words +whose bearing the school-mistress fortunately did not understand. All +save Tommy looked at Miss Ailie, and she put her arm on Mr. McLean's, +and, yes, it was obvious, Miss Ailie was a lover at the Cuttle Well at +last, like so many others. She had often said that the Den parade was +vulgar, but she never said it again. + +It was unexpected news to Tommy, but that was not what lowered his head +in humiliation now. In the general rejoicing he had been nigh forgotten; +even Elspeth was hanging on Miss Ailie's skirts, Gavinia had eyes for +none but lovers, Corp was rapturously examining five half-crowns that +had been dropped into his hands for distribution. Had Tommy given an +order now, who would have obeyed it? His power was gone, his crew would +not listen to another word against Mr. McLean. + +"Tommy thought Mr. McLean hated you!" said Elspeth to Miss Ailie. + +"It was queer you made sic a mistake!" said Corp to Tommy. + +"Oh, the tattie-doolie!" cried Gavinia. + +So they knew that Mr. McLean had only been speaking sarcastically; of a +sudden they saw through and despised their captain. Tears of +mortification rose in Tommy's eyes, and kind-hearted Miss Ailie saw +them, and she thought it was her lover's irony that made him smart. She +had said little hitherto, but now she put her hand on his shoulder, and +told them all that she did indeed owe the supreme joy that had come to +her to him. "No, Gavinia," she said, blushing, "I will not give you the +particulars, but I assure you that had it not been for Tommy, Mr. McLean +would never have asked me to marry him." + +Elspeth crossed proudly to the side of her noble brother (who could +scarcely trust his ears), and Gavinia cried, in wonder, "What did he +do?" + +Now McLean had seen Tommy's tears also, and being a kindly man he +dropped the satirist and chimed in warmly, "And if I had not asked Miss +Ailie to marry me I should have lost the great happiness of my life, so +you may all imagine how beholden I feel to Tommy." + +Again Tommy was the centre-piece, and though these words were as +puzzling to him as to his crew, their sincerity was unmistakable, and +once more his head began to waggle complacently. + +"And to show how grateful we are," said Miss Ailie, "we are to give him +a--a sort of marriage present. We are to double the value of the bursary +he wins at the university--" She could get no farther, for now Elspeth +was hugging her, and Corp cheering frantically, and Mr. McLean thought +it necessary to add the warning, "If he does carry a bursary, you +understand, for should he fail I give him nothing." + +"Him fail!" exclaimed Corp, with whom Miss Ailie of course agreed. "And +he can spend the money in whatever way he chooses," she said, "what will +you do with it, Tommy?" + +The lucky boy answered, instantly, "I'll take Elspeth to Aberdeen to +bide with me," and then Elspeth hugged him, and Miss Ailie said, in a +delighted aside to Mr. McLean, "I told you so," and he, too, was well +pleased. + +"It was the one thing needed to make him work," the school-mistress +whispered. "Is not his love for his sister beautiful?" + +McLean admitted that it was, but half-banteringly he said to Elspeth: +"What could you do in lodgings, you excited mite?" + +"I can sit and look at Tommy," she answered, quickly. + +"But he will be away for hours at his classes." + +"I'll sit at the window waiting for him," said she. + +"And I'll run back quick," said Tommy. + +All this time another problem had been bewildering Gavinia, and now she +broke in, eagerly: "But what was it he did? I thought he was agin Mr. +McLean." + +"And so did I," said Corp. + +"I cheated you grandly," replied Tommy with the audacity he found so +useful. + +"And a' the time you was pretending to be agin him," screamed Gavinia, +"was you--was you bringing this about on the sly?" + +Tommy looked up into Mr. McLean's face, but could get no guidance from +it, so he said nothing; he only held his head higher than ever. "Oh, the +clever little curse!" cried Corp, and Elspeth's delight was as ecstatic, +though differently worded. Yet Gavinia stuck to her problem, "How did +you do it, what was it you did?" and the cruel McLean said: "You may +tell her, Tommy; you have my permission." + +It would have been an awkward position for most boys, and even +Tommy--but next moment he said, quite coolly: "I think you and me and +Miss Ailie should keep it to oursels, Gavinia's sic a gossip." + +"Oh, how thoughtful of him!" cried Miss Ailie, the deceived, and McLean +said: "How very thoughtful!" but now he saw in a flash why Mr. Cathro +still had hopes that Tommy might carry a bursary. + +Thus was the repentant McLean pardoned, and nothing remained for him to +do save to show the crew his Lair, which they had sworn to destroy. He +had behaved so splendidly that they had forgotten almost that they were +the emissaries of justice, but not to destroy the Lair seemed a pity, it +would be such a striking way of bringing their adventures in the Den to +a close. The degenerate Stuart read this feeling in their faces, and he +was ready, he said, to show them his Lair if they would first point it +out to him; but here was a difficulty, for how could they do that? For a +moment it seemed as if the negotiations must fall through; but Sandys, +that captain of resource, invited McLean to step aside for a private +conference, and when they rejoined the others McLean said, gravely, that +he now remembered where the Lair was and would guide them to it. + +They had only to cross a plank, invisible in the mist until they were +close to it, and climb a slippery bank strewn with fallen trees. McLean, +with a mock serious air, led the way, Miss Ailie on his arm. Corp and +Gavinia followed, weighted and hampered by their new half-crowns, and +Tommy and Elspeth, in the rear, whispered joyously of the coming life. +And so, very unprepared for it, they moved toward the tragedy of the +night. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +A LETTER TO GOD + + +"Do you keep a light burning in the Lair?" McLean turned to ask, +forgetting for the moment that it was not their domicile, but his. + +"No, there's no light," replied Corp, equally forgetful, but even as he +spoke he stopped so suddenly that Elspeth struck against him. For he had +seen a light. "This is queer!" he cried, and both he and Gavinia fell +back in consternation. McLean pushed forward alone, and was back in a +trice, with a new expression on his face. "Are you playing some trick on +me?" he demanded suspiciously of Tommy. "There is some one there; I +almost ran against a pair of blazing eyes." + +"But there's nobody; there can be nobody there," answered Tommy, in a +bewilderment that was obviously unfeigned, "unless--unless--" He looked +at Corp, and the eyes of both finished the sentence. The desolate scene +at Double Dykes, which the meeting with McLean and Miss Ailie had driven +from their minds, again confronted them, and they seemed once more to +hear the whimpering of the Painted Lady's door. + +"Unless what?" asked the man, impatiently, but still the two boys only +stared at each other. "The Den's no mous the night," said Corp at last, +in a low voice, and his unspoken fears spread to the womankind, so that +Miss Ailie shuddered and Elspeth gripped Tommy with both hands and +Gavinia whispered, "Let's away hame, we can come back in the daylight." + +But McLean chafed and pressed upward, and next moment a girl's voice was +heard, crying: "It is no business of yours; I won't let you touch her." + +"Grizel!" exclaimed Tommy and his crew, simultaneously, and they had no +more fear until they were inside the Lair. What they saw had best be +described very briefly. A fire was burning in a corner of the Lair, and +in front of it, partly covered with a sheet, lay the Painted Lady, dead. +Grizel stood beside the body guarding it, her hands clenched, her eyes +very strange. "You sha'n't touch her!" she cried, passionately, and +repeated it many times, as if she had lost the power to leave off, but +Corp crept past her and raised the coverlet. + +"She's straikit!" he shouted. "Did you do it yoursel', Grizel? God +behears, she did it hersel'!" + +A very long silence it seemed to be after that. + +Miss Ailie would have taken the motherless girl to her arms, but first, +at Corp's discovery, she had drawn back in uncontrollable repulsion, and +Grizel, about to go to her, saw it, and turned from her to Tommy. Her +eyes rested on him beseechingly, with a look he saw only once again in +them until she was a woman, but his first thought was not for Grizel. +Elspeth was clinging to him, terrified and sobbing, and he cried to her, +"Shut your een," and then led her tenderly away. He was always good to +Elspeth. + + * * * * * + +There was no lack of sympathy with Grizel when the news spread through +the town, and unshod men with their gallowses hanging down, and women +buttoning as they ran, hurried to the Den. But to all the questions put +to her and to all the kindly offers made, as the body was carried to +Double Dykes, she only rocked her arms, crying, "I don't want anything +to eat. I shall stay all night beside her. I am not frightened at my +mamma. I won't tell you why she was in the Den. I am not sure how long +she has been dead. Oh, what do these little things matter?" + +The great thing was that her mamma should be buried in the cemetery, and +not in unconsecrated ground with a stake through her as the boys had +predicted, and it was only after she was promised this that Grizel told +her little tale. She had feared for a long time that her mamma was dying +of consumption, but she told no one, because everybody was against her +and her mamma. Her mamma never knew that she was dying, and sometimes +she used to get so much better that Grizel hoped she would live a long +time, but that hope never lasted long. The reason she sat so much with +Ballingall was just to find out what doctors did to dying people to make +them live a little longer, and she watched his straiking to be able to +do it to her mamma when the time came. She was sure none of the women +would consent to straik her mamma. On the previous night, she could not +say at what hour, she had been awakened by a cold wind, and so she knew +that the door was open. She put out her hand in the darkness and found +that her mamma was not beside her. It had happened before, and she was +not frightened. She had hidden the key of the door that night and nailed +down the window, but her mamma had found the key. Grizel rose, lit the +lamp, and, having dressed hurriedly, set off with wraps to the Den. Her +mamma was generally as sensible as anybody in Thrums, but sometimes she +had shaking fits, and after them she thought it was the time of long +ago. Then she went to the Den to meet a man who had promised, she said, +to be there, but he never came, and before daybreak Grizel could usually +induce her to return home. Latterly she had persuaded her mamma to wait +for him in the old Lair, because it was less cold there, and she had got +her to do this last night. Her mamma did not seem very unwell, but she +fell asleep, and she died sleeping, and then Grizel went back to Double +Dykes for linen and straiked her. + +Some say in Thrums that a spade was found in the Lair, but that is only +the growth of later years. Grizel had done all she could do, and +through the long Saturday she sat by the side of the body, helpless and +unable to cry. She knew that it could not remain there much longer, but +every time she rose to go and confess, fear of the indignities to which +the body of her darling mamma might be subjected pulled her back. The +boys had spoken idly, but hunted Grizel, who knew so much less and so +much more than any of them, believed it all. + +It was she who had stood so near Gavinia in the ruined house. She had +only gone there to listen to human voices. When she discovered from the +talk of her friends that she had left a light burning at Double Dykes +and the door open, fear of the suspicions this might give rise to had +sent her to the house on the heels of the two boys, and it was she who +had stolen past them in the mist to put out the light and lock the door. +Then she had returned to her mamma's side. + +The doctor was among the listeners, almost the only dry-eyed one, but he +was not dry-eyed because he felt the artless story least. Again and +again he rose from his chair restlessly, and Grizel thought he scowled +at her when he was really scowling at himself; as soon as she had +finished he cleared the room brusquely of all intruders, and then he +turned on her passionately. + +"Think shame of yoursel'," he thundered, "for keeping me in the dark," +and of course she took his words literally, though their full meaning +was, "I shall scorn myself from this hour for not having won the poor +child's confidence." + +Oh, he was a hard man, Grizel thought, the hardest of them all. But she +was used to standing up to hard men, and she answered, defiantly: "I did +mean to tell you, that day you sent me with the bottle to Ballingall, I +was waiting at the surgery door to tell you, but you were cruel, you +said I was a thief, and then how could I tell you?" + +This, too, struck home, and the doctor winced, but what he said was, +"You fooled me for a whole week, and the town knows it; do you think I +can forgive you for that?" + +"I don't care whether you forgive me," replied Grizel at once. + +"Nor do I care whether you care," he rapped out, all the time wishing he +could strike himself; "but I'm the doctor of this place, and when your +mother was ill you should have come straight to me. What had I done that +you should be afraid of me?" + +"I am not afraid of you," she replied, "I am not afraid of anyone, but +mamma was afraid of you because she knew you had said cruel things about +her, and I thought--I won't tell you what I thought." But with a little +pressing she changed her mind and told him. "I was not sure whether you +would come to see her, though I asked you, and if you came I knew you +would tell her she was dying, and that would have made her scream. And +that is not all, I thought you might tell her that she would be buried +with a stake through her--" + +"Oh, these blackguard laddies!" cried McQueen, clenching his fists. + +"And so I dared not tell you," Grizel concluded calmly; "I am not +frightened at you, but I was frightened you would hurt my dear darling +mamma," and she went and stood defiantly between him and her mother. + +The doctor moved up and down the room, crying, "How did I not know of +this, why was I not told?" and he knew that the fault had been his own, +and so was furious when Grizel told him so. + +"Yes, it is," she insisted, "you knew mamma was an unhappy lady, and +that the people shouted things against her and terrified her; and you +must have known, for everybody knew, that she was sometimes silly and +wandered about all night, and you are a big strong man, and so you +should have been sorry for her; and if you had been sorry you would have +come to see her and been kind to her, and then you would have found it +all out." + +"Have done, lassie!" he said, half angrily, half beseechingly, but she +did not understand that he was suffering, and she went on, relentlessly: +"And you knew that bad men used to come to see her at night--they have +not come for a long time--but you never tried to stop their coming, and +I could have stopped it if I had known they were bad; but I did not know +at first, and I was only a little girl, and you should have told me." + +"Have done!" It was all that he could say, for like many he had heard of +men visiting the Painted Lady by stealth, and he had only wondered, with +other gossips, who they were. + +He crossed again to the side of the dead woman, "And Ballingall's was +the only corpse you ever saw straiked?" he said in wonder, she had done +her work so well. But he was not doubting her; he knew already that this +girl was clothed in truthfulness. + +"Was it you that kept this house so clean?" he asked, almost irritably, +for he himself was the one undusted, neglected-looking thing in it, and +he was suddenly conscious of his frayed wristband and of buttons hanging +by a thread. + +"Yes." + +"What age are you?" + +"I think I am thirteen." + +He looked long at her, vindictively she thought, but he was only +picturing the probable future of a painted lady's child, and he said +mournfully to himself, "Ay, it does not even end here; and that's the +crowning pity of it." But Grizel only heard him say, "Poor thing!" and +she bridled immediately. + +"I won't let you pity me," she cried. + +"You dour brat!" he retorted. "But you need not think you are to have +everything your own way still. I must get some Monypenny woman to take +you till the funeral is over, and after that--" + +"I won't go," said Grizel, determinedly, "I shall stay with mamma till +she is buried." + +He was not accustomed to contradiction, and he stamped his foot. "You +shall do as you are told," he said. + +"I won't!" replied Grizel, and she also stamped her foot. + +"Very well, then, you thrawn tid, but at any rate I'll send in a woman +to sleep with you." + +"I want no one. Do you think I am afraid?" + +"I think you will be afraid when you wake up in the darkness, and find +yourself alone with--with it." + +"I sha'n't, I shall remember at once that she is to be buried nicely in +the cemetery, and that will make me happy." + +"You unnatural--" + +"Besides, I sha'n't sleep, I have something to do." + +His curiosity again got the better of the doctor. "What can you have to +do at such a time?" he demanded, and her reply surprised him: + +"I am to make a dress." + +"You!" + +"I have made them before now," she said indignantly. + +"But at such a time!" + +"It is a black dress," she cried, "I don't have one, I am to make it +out of mamma's." + +He said nothing for some time, then "When did you think of this?" + +"I thought of it weeks ago, I bought crape at the corner shop to be +ready, and--" + +She thought he was looking at her in horror, and stopped abruptly. "I +don't care what you think," she said. + +"What I do think," he retorted, taking up his hat, "is, that you are a +most exasperating lassie. If I bide here another minute I believe you'll +get round me." + +"I don't want to get round you." + +"Then what makes you say such things? I question if I'll get an hour's +sleep to-night for thinking of you!" + +"I don't want you to think of me!" + +He groaned. "What could an untidy, hardened old single man like me do +with you in his house?" he said. "Oh, you little limmer, to put such a +thought into my head." + +"I never did!" she exclaimed, indignantly. + +"It began, I do believe it began," he sighed, "the first time I saw you +easying Ballingall's pillows." + +"What began?" + +"You brat, you wilful brat, don't pretend ignorance. You set a trap to +catch me, and--" + +"Oh!" cried Grizel, and she opened the door quickly. "Go away, you +horrid man," she said. + +He liked her the more for this regal action, and therefore it enraged +him. Sheer anxiety lest he should succumb to her on the spot was what +made him bluster as he strode off, and "That brat of a Grizel," or "The +Painted Lady's most unbearable lassie," or "The dour little besom" was +his way of referring to her in company for days, but if any one agreed +with him he roared "Don't be a fool, man, she's a wonder, she's a +delight," or "You have a dozen yourself, Janet, but I wouldna neifer +Grizel for the lot of them." And it was he, still denouncing her so long +as he was contradicted, who persuaded the Auld Licht Minister to +officiate at the funeral. Then he said to himself, "And now I wash my +hands of her, I have done all that can be expected of me." He told +himself this a great many times as if it were a medicine that must be +taken frequently, and Grizel heard from Tommy, with whom she had some +strange conversations, that he was going about denouncing her "up hill +and down dale." But she did not care, she was so--so happy. For a hole +was dug for the Painted Lady in the cemetery, just as if she had been a +good woman, and Mr. Dishart conducted the service in Double Dykes before +the removal of the body, nor did he say one word that could hurt Grizel, +perhaps because his wife had drawn a promise from him. A large gathering +of men followed the coffin, three of them because, as yon may remember, +Grizel had dared them to stay away, but all the others out of sympathy +with a motherless child who, as the procession started, rocked her arms +in delight because her mamma was being buried respectably. + +Being a woman, she could not attend the funeral, and so the chief +mourner was Tommy, as you could see by the position he took at the +grave, and by the white bands Grizel had sewn on his sleeves. He was +looking very important, as if he had something remarkable in prospect, +but little attention was given him until the cords were dropped into the +grave, and a prayer offered up, when he pulled Mr. Dishart's coat and +muttered something about a paper. Those who had been making ready to +depart swung round again, and the minister told him if he had anything +to say to speak out. + +"It's a paper," Tommy said, nervous yet elated, and addressing all, +"that Grizel put in the coffin. She told me to tell you about it when +the cords fell on the lid." + +"What sort of a paper?" asked Mr. Dishart, frowning. + +"It's--it's a letter to God," Tommy gasped. + +Nothing was to be heard except the shovelling of earth into the grave. +"Hold your spade, John," the minister said to the gravedigger, and then +even that sound stopped. "Go on," Mr. Dishart signed to the boy. + +"Grizel doesna believe her mother has much chance of getting to heaven," +Tommy said, "and she wrote the letter to God, so that when he opens the +coffins on the last day he will find it and read about them." + +"About whom?" asked the stern minister. + +"About Grizel's father, for one. She doesna know his name, but the +Painted Lady wore a locket wi' a picture of him on her breast, and it's +buried wi' her, and Grizel told God to look at it so as to know him. She +thinks her mother will be damned for having her, and that it winna be +fair unless God damns her father too." + +"Go on," said Mr. Dishart. + +"There was three Thrums men--I think they were gentlemen--" Tommy +continued, almost blithely, "that used to visit the Painted Lady in the +night time afore she took ill. They wanted Grizel to promise no to tell +about their going to Double Dykes, and she promised because she was ower +innocent to know what they went for--but their names are in the letter." + +A movement in the crowd was checked by the minister's uplifted arm. "Go +on," he cried. + +"She wouldna tell me who they were, because it would have been +breaking her promise," said Tommy, "but"--he looked around him +inquisitively--"but they're here at the funeral." + +The mourners were looking sideways at each other, some breathing hard, +but none dared to speak before the minister. He stood for a long time in +doubt, but at last he signed to John to proceed with the filling in of +the grave. Contrary to custom all remained. Not until the grave was +again level with the sward did Mr. Dishart speak, and then it was with a +gesture that appalled his hearers. "This grave," he said, raising his +arm, "is locked till the day of judgment." + +Leaving him standing there, a threatening figure, they broke into groups +and dispersed, walking slowly at first, and then fast, to tell their +wives. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +AN ELOPEMENT + + +The solitary child remained at Double Dykes, awaiting the arrival of her +father, for the Painted Lady's manner of leaving the world had made such +a stir that the neighbors said he must have heard of it, even though he +were in London, and if he had the heart of a stone he could not desert +his bairn. They argued thus among themselves, less as people who were +sure of it than to escape the perplexing question, what to do with +Grizel if the man never claimed her? and before her they spoke of his +coming as a certainty, because it would be so obviously the best thing +for her. In the meantime they overwhelmed her with offers of everything +she could need, which was kindly but not essential, for after the +funeral expenses had been paid (Grizel insisted on paying them herself) +she had still several gold pieces, found in her mamma's beautiful +tortoise-shell purse, and there were nearly twenty pounds in the bank. + +But day after day passed, and the man had not come. Perhaps he resented +the Painted Lady's ostentatious death; which, if he was nicely strung, +must have jarred upon his nerves. He could hardly have acknowledged +Grizel now without publicity being given to his private concerns. Or he +may never have heard of the Painted Lady's death, or if he read of it, +he may not have known which painted lady in particular she was. Or he +may have married, and told his wife all and she had forgiven him, which +somehow, according to the plays and the novels, cuts the past adrift +from a man and enables him to begin again at yesterday. Whatever the +reason, Grizel's father was in no hurry to reveal himself, and though +not to her, among themselves the people talked of the probability of his +not coming at all. She could not remain alone at Double Dykes, they all +admitted, but where, then, should she go? No fine lady in need of a +handmaid seemed to think a painted lady's child would suit; indeed, +Grizel at first sight had not the manner that attracts philanthropists. +Once only did the problem approach solution; a woman in the Den-head was +willing to take the child because (she expressed it) as she had seven +she might as well have eight, but her man said no, he would not have his +bairns fil't. Others would have taken her cordially for a few weeks or +months, had they not known that at the end of this time they would be +blamed, even by themselves, if they let her go. All, in short, were +eager to show her kindness if one would give her a home, but where was +that one to be found? + +Much of this talk came to Grizel through Tommy, and she told him in the +house of Double Dykes that people need not trouble themselves about her, +for she had no wish to stay with them. It was only charity they brought +her; no one wanted her for herself. "It is because I am a child of +shame," she told him, dry-eyed. + +He fidgeted on his chair, and asked, "What's that?" not very honestly. + +"I don't know," she said, "no one will tell me, but it is something you +can't love." + +"You have a terrible wish to be loved," he said in wonder, and she +nodded her head wistfully. "That is not what I wish for most of all, +though," she told him, and when he asked what she wished for most of +all, she said, "To love somebody; oh, it would be sweet!" + +To Tommy, most sympathetic of mortals, she seemed a very pathetic little +figure, and tears came to his eyes as he surveyed her; he could always +cry very easily. + +"If it wasna for Elspeth," he began, stammering, "I could love you, but +you winna let a body do onything on the sly." + +It was a vague offer, but she understood, and became the old Grizel at +once. "I don't want you to love me," she said indignantly; "I don't +think you know how to love." + +"Neither can you know, then," retorted Tommy, huffily, "for there's +nobody for you to love." + +"Yes, there is," she said, "and I do love her and she loves me." + +"But wha is she?" + +"That girl." To his amazement she pointed to her own reflection in the +famous mirror the size of which had scandalized Thrums. Tommy thought +this affection for herself barely respectable, but he dared not say so +lest he should be put to the door. "I love her ever so much," Grizel +went on, "and she is so fond of me, she hates to see me unhappy. Don't +look so sad, dearest, darlingest," she cried vehemently; "I love you, +you know, oh, you sweet!" and with each epithet she kissed her +reflection and looked defiantly at the boy. + +"But you canna put your arms round her and hug her," he pointed out +triumphantly, and so he had the last word after all. Unfortunately +Grizel kept this side of her, new even to Tommy, hidden from all others, +and her unresponsiveness lost her many possible friends. Even Miss +Ailie, who now had a dressmaker in the blue-and-white room, sitting on a +bedroom chair and sewing for her life (oh, the agony--or is it the +rapture?--of having to decide whether to marry in gray with beads or +brown plain to the throat), even sympathetic Miss Ailie, having met with +several rebuffs, said that Grizel had a most unaffectionate nature, and, +"Ay, she's hardy," agreed the town, "but it's better, maybe, for +hersel'." There are none so unpopular as the silent ones. + +If only Miss Ailie, or others like her, could have slipped noiselessly +into Double Dykes at night, they would have found Grizel's pillow wet. +But she would have heard them long before they reached the door, and +jumped to the floor in terror, thinking it was her father's step at +last. For, unknown to anyone, his coming, which the town so anxiously +desired, was her one dread. She had told Tommy what she should say to +him if he came, and Tommy had been awed and delighted, they were such +scathing things; probably, had the necessity arisen, she would have +found courage to say them, but they were made up in the daytime, and at +night they brought less comfort. Then she listened fearfully and longed +for the morning, wild ideas coursing through her head of flying before +he could seize her; but when morning came it brought other thoughts, as +of the strange remarks she had heard about her mamma and herself during +the past few days. To brood over these was the most unhealthy occupation +she could find, but it was her only birthright. Many of the remarks came +unguardedly from lips that had no desire to pain her, others fell in a +rage because she would not tell what were the names in her letter to +God. The words that troubled her most, perhaps, were the doctor's, "She +is a brave lass, but it must be in her blood." They were not intended +for her ears, but she heard. "What did he mean?" she asked Miss Ailie, +Mrs. Dishart, and others who came to see her, and they replied +awkwardly, that it had only been a doctor's remark, of no importance to +people who were well. "Then why are you crying?" she demanded, looking +them full in the face with eyes there was no deceiving. + +"Oh, why is everyone afraid to tell me the truth!" she would cry, +beating her palms in anguish. + +She walked into McQueen's surgery and said, "Could you not cut it out?" +so abruptly that he wondered what she was speaking about. + +"The bad thing that is in my blood," she explained. "Do cut it out, I +sha'n't scream. I promise not to scream." + +He sighed and answered, "If it could be cut out, lassie, I would try to +do it, though it was the most dangerous of operations." + +She looked in anguish at him. "There are cleverer doctors than you, +aren't there?" she asked, and he was not offended. + +"Ay, a hantle cleverer," he told her, "but none so clever as that. God +help you, bairn, if you have to do it yourself some day." + +"Can I do it myself?" she cried, brightening. "I shall do it now. Is it +done with a knife?" + +"With a sharper knife than a surgeon's," he answered, and then, +regretting he had said so much, he tried to cheer her. But that he could +not do. "You are afraid to tell me the truth too," she said, and when +she went away he was very sorry for her, but not so sorry as she was +for herself. "When I am grown up," she announced dolefully, to Tommy, "I +shall be a bad woman, just like mamma." + +"Not if you try to be good," he said. + +"Yes, I shall. There is something in my blood that will make me bad, and +I so wanted to be good. Oh! oh! oh!" + +She told him of the things she had heard people say, but though they +perplexed him almost as much as her, he was not so hopeless of learning +their meaning, for here was just the kind of difficulty he liked to +overcome. "I'll get it out o' Blinder," he said, with confidence in his +ingenuity, "and then I'll tell you what he says." But however much he +might strive to do so, Tommy could never repeat anything without giving +it frills and other adornment of his own making, and Grizel knew this. +"I must hear what he says myself," she insisted. + +"But he winna speak plain afore you." + +"Yes, he will, if he does not know I am there." + +The plot succeeded, though only partially, for so quick was the blind +man's sense of hearing that in the middle of the conversation he said, +sharply, "Somebody's ahint the dyke!" and he caught Grizel by the +shoulder. "It's the Painted Lady's lassie," he said when she screamed, +and he stormed against Tommy for taking such advantage of his blindness. +But to her he said, gently, "I daresay you egged him on to this, +meaning well, but you maun forget most of what I've said, especially +about being in the blood. I spoke in haste, it doesna apply to the like +of you." + +"Yes, it does," replied Grizel, and all that had been revealed to her +she carried hot to the surgery, Tommy stopping at the door in as great +perturbation as herself. "I know what being in the blood is now," she +said, tragically, to McQueen, "there is something about it in the Bible. +I am the child of evil passions, and that means that I was born with +wickedness in my blood. It is lying sleeping in me just now because I am +only thirteen, and if I can prevent its waking when I am grown up I +shall always be good, but a very little thing will waken it; it wants so +much to be wakened, and if it is once wakened it will run all through +me, and soon I shall be like mamma." + +It was all horribly clear to her, and she would not wait for words of +comfort that could only obscure the truth. Accompanied by Tommy, who +said nothing, but often glanced at her fascinated yet alarmed, as if +expecting to see the ghastly change come over her at any moment--for he +was as convinced as she, and had the livelier imagination--she returned +to Monypenny to beg of Blinder to tell her one thing more. And he told +her, not speaking lightly, but because his words contained a solemn +warning to a girl who, he thought, might need it. + +"What sort of thing would be likeliest to waken the wickedness?" she +asked, holding her breath for the answer. + +"Keeping company wi' ill men," said Blinder, gravely. + +"Like the man who made mamma wicked, like my father?" + +"Ay," Blinder replied, "fly from the like of him, my lass, though it +should be to the other end of the world." + +She stood quite still, with a most sorrowful face, and then ran away, +ran so swiftly that when Tommy, who had lingered for a moment, came to +the door she was already out of sight. Scarcely less excited than she, +he set off for Double Dykes, his imagination in such a blaze that he +looked fearfully in the pools of the burn for a black frock. But Grizel +had not drowned herself; she was standing erect in her home, like one at +bay, her arms rigid, her hands clenched, and when he pushed open the +door she screamed. + +"Grizel," said the distressed boy, "did you think I was him come for +you?" + +"Yes!" + +"Maybe he'll no come. The folk think he winna come." + +"But if he does, if he does!" + +"Maybe you needna go wi' him unless you're willing?" + +"I must, he can compel me, because he is my father. Oh! oh! oh!" She +lay down on the bed, and on her eyes there slowly formed the little +wells of water Tommy was to know so well in time. He stood by her side +in anguish; for though his own tears came at the first call, he could +never face them in others. + +"Grizel," he said impulsively, "there's just one thing for you to do. +You have money, and you maun run away afore he comes!" + +She jumped up at that. "I have thought of it," she answered "I am always +thinking about it, but how can I, oh, now can I? It would not be +respectable." + +"To run away?" + +"To go by myself," said the poor girl, "and I do want to be respectable, +it would be sweet." + +In some ways Tommy was as innocent as she, and her reasoning seemed to +him to be sound. She was looking at him woefully, and entreaty was on +her face; all at once he felt what a lonely little crittur she was, and, +in a burst of manhood,-- + +"But, dinna prig wi' me to go with you," he said, struggling. + +"I have not!" she answered, panting, and she had not in words, but the +mute appeal was still on her face. + +"Grizel," he cried, "I'll come!" + +Then she seized his hand and pressed it to her breast, saying, "Oh, +Tommy, I am so fond of you!" + +It was the first time she had admitted it, and his head wagged well +content, as if saying for him, "I knew you would understand me some +day." But next moment the haunting shadow that so often overtook him in +the act of soaring fell cold upon his mind, and "I maun take Elspeth!" +he announced, as if Elspeth had him by the leg. + +"You sha'n't!" said Grizel's face. + +"She winna let go," said Tommy's. + +Grizel quivered from top to toe. "I hate Elspeth!" she cried, with +curious passion, and the more moral Tommy was ashamed of her. + +"You dinna ken how fond o' her I am," he said. + +"Yes, I do." + +"Then you shouldna want me to leave her and go wi' you." + +"That is why I want it," Grizel blurted out, and now we are all ashamed +of her. But fortunately Tommy did not see how much she had admitted in +that hasty cry, and as neither would give way to the other they parted +stiffly, his last words being "Mind, it wouldna be respectable to go by +yoursel'," and hers "I don't care, I'm going." Nevertheless it was she +who slept easily that night, and he who tossed about almost until +cockcrow. She had only one ugly dream, of herself wandering from door to +door in a strange town, asking for lodgings, but the woman who answered +her weary knocks--there were many doors but it was invariably the same +woman--always asked, suspiciously, "Is Tommy with you?" and Grizel shook +her head, and then the woman drove her away, perceiving that she was +not respectable. This woke her, and she feared the dream would come +true, but she clenched her fists in the darkness, saying, "I can't help +it, I am going, and I won't have Elspeth," and after that she slept in +peace. In the meantime Tommy the imaginative--but that night he was not +Tommy, rather was he Grizel, for he saw her as we can only see +ourselves. Now she--or he, if you will--had been caught by her father +and brought back, and she turned into a painted thing like her mother. +She brandished a brandy bottle and a stream of foul words ran lightly +from her mouth and suddenly stopped, because she was wailing "I wanted +so to be good, it is sweet to be good!" Now a man with a beard was +whipping her, and Tommy felt each lash on his own body, so that he had +to strike out, and he started up in bed, and the horrible thing was that +he had never been asleep. Thus it went on until early morning, when his +eyes were red and his body was damp with sweat. + +But now again he was Tommy, and at first even to think of leaving +Elspeth was absurd. Yet it would be pleasant to leave Aaron, who +disliked him so much. To disappear without a word would be a fine +revenge, for the people would say that Aaron must have ill-treated him, +and while they searched the pools of the burn for his body, Aaron would +be looking on trembling, perhaps with a policeman's hand on his +shoulder. Tommy saw the commotion as vividly as if the searchers were +already out and he in a tree looking down at them; but in a second he +also heard Elspeth skirling, and down he flung himself from the tree, +crying, "I'm here, Elspeth, dinna greet; oh, what a brute I've been!" +No, he could not leave Elspeth, how wicked of Grizel to expect it of +him; she was a bad one, Grizel. + +But having now decided not to go, his sympathy with the girl who was to +lose him returned in a rush, and before he went to school he besought +her to--it amounted to this, to be more like himself; that is, he begged +her to postpone her departure indefinitely, not to make up her mind +until to-morrow--or the day after--or the day after that. He produced +reasons, as that she had only four pounds and some shillings now, while +by and by she might get the Painted Lady's money, at present in the +bank; also she ought to wait for the money that would come to her from +the roup of the furniture. But Grizel waived all argument aside; secure +in her four pounds and shillings she was determined to go to-night, for +her father might be here to-morrow; she was going to London because it +was so big that no one could ever find her there, and she would never, +never write to Tommy to tell him how she fared, lest the letter put her +father on her track. He implored her to write once, so that the money +owing her might be forwarded, but even this bribe did not move her, and +he set off for school most gloomily. + +Cathro was specially aggravating that day, nagged him, said before the +whole school that he was a numskull, even fell upon him with the tawse, +and for no earthly reason except that Tommy would not bother his head +with the _oratio obliqua_. If there is any kind of dominie more +maddening than another, it is the one who will not leave you alone (ask +any thoughtful boy). How wretched the lot of him whose life is cast +among fools not capable of understanding him; what was that saying about +entertaining angels unawares? London! Grizel had more than sufficient +money to take two there, and once in London, a wonder such as himself +was bound to do wondrous things. Now that he thought of it, to become a +minister was abhorrent to him; to preach would be rather nice, oh, what +things he should say (he began to make them up, and they were so grand +that he almost wept), but to be good after the sermon was over, always +to be good (even when Elspeth was out of the way), never to think queer +unsayable things, never to say Stroke, never, in short, to "find a +way"--he was appalled. If it had not been for Elspeth-- + +So even Elspeth did not need him. When he went home from school, +thinking only of her, he found that she had gone to the Auld Licht manse +to play with little Margaret. Very well, if such was her wish, he would +go. Nobody wanted him except Grizel. Perhaps when news came from London +of his greatness, they would think more of him. He would send a letter +to Thrums, asking Mr. McLean to transfer his kindness to Elspeth. That +would show them what a noble fellow he was. Elspeth would really benefit +by his disappearance; he was running away for Elspeth's sake. And when +he was great, which would be in a few years, he would come back for her. + +But no, he--. The dash represents Tommy swithering once more, and he was +at one or other end of the swither all day. When he acted sharply it was +always on impulse, and as soon as the die was cast he was a philosopher +with no regrets. But when he had time to reflect, he jumped miserably +back and forward. So when Grizel was ready to start, he did not know in +the least what he meant to do. + +She was to pass by the Cuttle Well, on her way to Tilliedrum, where she +would get the London train, he had been told coldly, and he could be +there at the time--if he liked. The time was seven o'clock in the +evening on a week-day, when the lovers are not in the Den, and Tommy +arrived first. When he stole through the small field that separates +Monypenny from the Den, his decision was--but on reaching the Cuttle +Well, its nearness to the uncanny Lair chilled his courage, and now he +had only come to bid her good-by. She was very late, and it suddenly +struck him that she had already set off. "After getting me to promise to +go wi' her!" he said to himself at once. + +But Grizel came; she was only late because it had taken her such a long +time to say good-by to the girl in the glass. She was wearing her black +dress and lustre jacket, and carried in a bundle the few treasures she +was taking with her, and though she did not ask Tommy if he was coming, +she cast a quick look round to see if he had a bundle anywhere, and he +had none. That told her his decision, and she would have liked to sit +down for a minute and cry, but of course she had too much pride, and she +bade him farewell so promptly that he thought he had a grievance. "I'm +coming as far as the toll-house wi' you," he said, sulkily, and so they +started together. + +At the toll-house Grizel stopped. "It's a fine night," said Tommy, +almost apologetically, "I'll go as far as the quarry o' Benshee." + +When they came to the quarry he said, "We're no half-roads yet, I'll go +wi' you as far as Padanarum." Now she began to wonder and to glance at +him sideways, which made him more uncomfortable than ever. To prevent +her asking him a question for which he had no answer, he said, "What +makes you look so little the day?" + +"I am not looking little," she replied, greatly annoyed, "I am looking +taller than usual. I have let down my frock three inches so as to look +taller--and older." + +"You look younger than ever," he said cruelly. + +"I don't! I look fifteen, and when you are fifteen you grow up very +quickly. Do say I look older!" she entreated anxiously. "It would make +me feel more respectable." + +But he shook his head with surprising obstinacy, and then she began to +remark on his clothes, which had been exercising her curiosity ever +since they left the Den. + +"How is it that you are looking so stout?" she asked. + +"I feel cold, but you are wiping the sweat off your face every minute." + +It was true, but he would have preferred not to answer. Grizel's +questions, however, were all so straight in the face, that there was no +dodging them. "I have on twa suits o' clothes, and a' my sarks," he had +to admit, sticky and sullen. + +She stopped, but he trudged on doggedly. She ran after him and gave his +arm an impulsive squeeze with both hands, "Oh, you sweet!" she said. + +"No, I'm not," he answered in alarm. + +"Yes you are! You are coming with me." + +"I'm not!" + +"Then why did you put on so many clothes?" + +Tommy swithered wretchedly on one foot. "I didna put them on to come wi' +you," he explained, "I just put them on in case I should come wi' you." + +"And are you not coming?" + +"How can I ken?" + +"But you must decide," Grizel almost screamed. + +"I needna," he stammered, "till we're at Tilliedrum. Let's speak about +some other thing." + +She rocked her arms, crying, "It is so easy to make up one's mind." + +"It's easy to you that has just one mind," he retorted with spirit, "but +if you had as many minds as I have--!" + +On they went. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +THERE IS SOME ONE TO LOVE GRIZEL AT LAST + + +Corp was sitting on the Monypenny dyke, spitting on a candlestick and +then rubbing it briskly against his orange-colored trousers. The doctor +passing in his gig, both of them streaked, till they blended, with the +mud of Look-about-you road (through which you should drive winking +rapidly all the way), saw him and drew up. + +"Well, how is Grizel?" he asked. He had avoided Double Dykes since the +funeral, but vain had been his attempts to turn its little inmate out of +his mind; there she was, against his will, and there, he now admitted to +himself angrily or with a rueful sigh, she seemed likely to remain until +someone gave her a home. It was an almost ludicrous distrust of himself +that kept him away from her; he feared that if he went to Double Dykes +her lonely face would complete his conquest. For oh, he was reluctant to +be got the better of, as he expressed it to himself. Maggy Ann, his +maid, was the ideal woman for a bachelor's house. When she saw him +coming she fled, guiltily concealing the hated duster; when he roared +at her for announcing that dinner was ready, she left him to eat it half +cold; when he spilled matches on the floor and then stepped upon them +and set the rug on fire, she let him tell her that she should be more +careful; she did not carry off his favorite boots to the cobbler because +they were down at heel; she did not fling up her arms in horror and cry +that she had brushed that coat just five minutes ago; nor did she count +the treasured "dottels" on the mantelpiece to discover how many pipes he +had smoked since morning; nor point out that he had stepped over the +door-mat; nor line her shelves with the new _Mentor_; nor give him up +his foot for sitting half the night with patients who could not pay--in +short, he knew the ways of the limmers, and Maggy Ann was a jewel. But +it had taken him a dozen years to bring her to this perfection, and well +he knew that the curse of Eve, as he called the rage for the duster, +slumbered in her rather than was extinguished. With the volcanic Grizel +in the house, Maggy Ann would once more burst into flame, and the +horrified doctor looked to right of him, to left of him, before him and +behind him, and everywhere he seemed to see two new brooms bearing down. +No, the brat, he would not have her; the besom, why did she bother him; +the witches take her, for putting the idea into his head, nailing it +into his head indeed. But nevertheless he was forever urging other +people to adopt her, assuring them that they would find her a treasure, +and even shaking his staff at them when they refused; and he was so +uneasy if he did not hear of her several times a day that he made +Monypenny the way to and from everywhere, so that he might drop into +artful talk with those who had seen her last. Corp, accordingly, was not +surprised at his "How is Grizel?" now, and he answered, between two +spits, "She's fine; she gave me this." + +It was one of the Painted Lady's silver candlesticks, and the doctor +asked sharply why Grizel had given it to him. + +"She said because she liked me," Corp replied, wonderingly. "She brought +it to my auntie's door soon after I loused, and put it into my hand: ay, +and she had a blue shawl, and she telled me to give it to Gavinia, +because she liked her too." + +"What else did she say?" + +Corp tried to think. "I said, 'This cows, Grizel, but thank you +kindly,'" he answered, much pleased with his effort of memory, but the +doctor interrupted him rudely. "Nobody wants to hear what you said, you +dottrel; what more did she say?" And thus encouraged Corp remembered +that she had said she hoped he would not forget her. "What for should I +forget her when I see her ilka day?" he asked, and was probably about to +divulge that this was his reply to her, but without waiting for more, +McQueen turned his beast's head and drove to the entrance to the Double +Dykes. Here he alighted and hastened up the path on foot, but before he +reached the house he met Dite Deuchars taking his ease beneath a tree, +and Dite could tell him that Grizel was not at home. "But there's +somebody in Double Dykes," he said, "though I kenna wha could be there +unless it's the ghost of the Painted Lady hersel'. About an hour syne I +saw Grizel come out o' the house, carrying a bundle, but she hadna gone +many yards when she turned round and waved her hand to the east window. +I couldna see wha was at it, but there maun have been somebody, for +first the crittur waved to the window and next she kissed her hand to +it, and syne she went on a bit, and syne she ran back close to the +window and nodded and flung more kisses, and back and forrit she went a +curran times as if she could hardly tear hersel' awa'. 'Wha's that +you're so chief wi'?' I speired when she came by me at last, but she +just said, 'I won't tell you,' in her dour wy, and she hasna come back +yet." + +Whom could she have been saying good-by to so demonstratively, and +whither had she gone? With a curiosity that for the moment took the +place of his uneasiness, McQueen proceeded to the house, the door of +which was shut but not locked. Two glances convinced him that there was +no one here, the kitchen was as he had seen it last, except that the +long mirror had been placed on a chair close to the east window. The +doctor went to the outside of the window, and looked in, he could see +nothing but his own reflection in the mirror, and was completely +puzzled. But it was no time, he felt, for standing there scratching his +head, when there was reason to fear that the girl had gone. Gone where? +He saw his selfishness now, in a glaring light, and it fled out of him +pursued by curses. + +He stopped at Aaron's door and called for Tommy, but Tommy had left the +house an hour ago. "Gone with her, the sacket; he very likely put her up +to this," the doctor muttered, and the surmise seemed justified when he +heard that Grizel and Tommy had been seen passing the Fens. That they +were running away had never struck those who saw them, and McQueen said +nothing of his suspicions, but off he went in his gig on their track and +ran them down within a mile of Tilliedrum. Grizel scurried on, thinking +it was undoubtedly her father, but in a few minutes the three were +conversing almost amicably, the doctor's first words had been so +"sweet." + +Tommy explained that they were out for a walk, but Grizel could not lie, +and in a few passionate sentences she told McQueen the truth. He had +guessed the greater part of it, and while she spoke he looked so sorry +for her, such a sweet change had come over his manner, that she held his +hand. + +"But you must go no farther," he told her, "I am to take you back with +me," and that alarmed her. "I won't go back," she said, determinedly, +"he might come." + +"There's little fear of his coming," McQueen assured her, gently, "but +if he does come I give you my solemn word that I won't let him take you +away unless you want to go." + +Even then she only wavered, but he got her altogether with this: "And +should he come, just think what a piece of your mind you could give him, +with me standing by holding your hand." + +"Oh, would you do that?" she asked, brightening. + +"I would do a good deal to get the chance," he said. + +"I should just love it!" she cried. "I shall come now," and she stepped +light-heartedly into the gig, where the doctor joined her. Tommy, who +had been in the background all this time, was about to jump up beside +them, but McQueen waved him back, saying maliciously, "There's just room +for two, my man, so I won't interfere with your walk." + +Tommy, in danger of being left, very hot and stout and sulky, whimpered, +"What have I done to anger you?" + +"You were going with her, you blackguard," replied McQueen, not yet in +full possession of the facts, for whether Tommy was or was not going +with her no one can ever know. + +"If I was," cried the injured boy, "it wasna because I wanted to go, it +was because it wouldna have been respectable for her to go by hersel'." + +The doctor had already started his shalt, but at these astonishing +words he drew up sharply. "Say that again," ha said, as if thinking that +his ears must have deceived him, and Tommy repeated his remark, +wondering at its effect. + +"And you tell me that you were going with her," the doctor repeated, "to +make her enterprise more respectable?" and he looked from one to the +other. + +"Of course I was," replied Tommy, resenting his surprise at a thing so +obvious; and "That's why I wanted him to come," chimed in Grizel. + +Still McQueen's glance wandered from the boy to the girl and from the +girl to the boy. "You are a pair!" he said at last, and he signed in +silence to Tommy to mount the gig. But his manner had alarmed Grizel, +ever watching herself lest she should stray into the ways of bad ones, +and she asked anxiously, "There was nothing wrong in it, was there?" + +"No," the doctor answered gravely, laying his hand on hers, "no, it was +just sweet." + + * * * * * + +What McQueen had to say to her was not for Tommy's ears, and the +conversation was but a makeshift until they reached Thrums, where he +sent the boy home, recommending him to hold his tongue about the +escapade (and Tommy of course saw the advisability of keeping it from +Elspeth); but he took Grizel into his parlor and set her down on the +buffet stool by the fire, where he surveyed her in silence at his +leisure. Then he tried her in his old armchair, then on his sofa; then +he put the _Mentor_ into her hand and told her to hold it as if it were +a duster, then he sent her into the passage, with instructions to open +the door presently and announce "Dinner is ready;" then he told her to +put some coals on the fire; then he told her to sit at the window, first +with an open book in her hand, secondly as if she was busy knitting; and +all these things she did wondering exceedingly, for he gave no +explanation except the incomprehensible one, "I want to see what it +would be like." + +She had told him in the gig why she had changed the position of the +mirror at Double Dykes, it was to let "that darling" wave good-by to her +from the window; and now having experimented with her in his parlor he +drew her toward his chair, so that she stood between his knees. And he +asked her if she understood why he had gone to Double Dykes. + +"Was it to get me to tell you what were the names in the letter?" she +said, wistfully. "That is what everyone asks me, but I won't tell, no, I +won't;" and she closed her mouth hard. + +He, too, would have liked to hear the names, and he sighed, it must be +admitted, at sight of that determined mouth, but he could say +truthfully, "Your refusal to break your promise is one of the things +that I admire in you." + +Admire! Grizel could scarce believe that this gift was for her. "You +don't mean that you really like me?" she faltered, but she felt sure all +the time that he did, and she cried, "Oh, but why, oh, how can you!" + +"For one reason," he said, "because you are so good." + +"Good! Oh! oh! oh!" She clapped her hands joyously. + +"And for another--because you are so brave." + +"But I am not really brave," she said anxiously, yet resolved to hide +nothing, "I only pretend to be brave, I am often frightened, but I just +don't let on." + +That, he told her, is the highest form of bravery, but Grizel was very, +very tired of being brave, and she insisted impetuously, "I don't want +to be brave, I want to be afraid, like other girls." + +"Ay, it's your right, you little woman," he answered, tenderly, and then +again he became mysterious. He kicked off his shoes to show her that he +was wearing socks that did not match. "I just pull on the first that +come to hand," he said recklessly. + +"Oh!" cried Grizel. + +On his dusty book-shelves he wrote, with his finger, "Not dusted since +the year One." + +"Oh! oh!" she cried. + +He put his fingers through his gray, untidy hair. "That's the only comb +I have that is at hand when I want it," he went on, regardless of her +agony. + +"All the stud-holes in my shirts," he said, "are now so frayed and +large that the studs fall out, and I find them in my socks at night." + +Oh! oh! he was killing her, he was, but what cared he? "Look at my +clothes," said the cruel man, "I read when I'm eating, and I spill so +much gravy that--that we boil my waistcoat once a month, and make soup +of it!" + +To Grizel this was the most tragic picture ever drawn by man, and he saw +that it was time to desist. "And it's all," he said, looking at her +sadly, "it's all because I am a lonely old bachelor with no womankind to +look after him, no little girl to brighten him when he comes home +dog-tired, no one to care whether his socks are in holes and his comb +behind the wash-stand, no soft hand to soothe his brow when it aches, no +one to work for, no one to love, many a one to close the old bachelor's +eyes when he dies, but none to drop a tear for him, no one to--" + +"Oh! oh! oh! That is just like me. Oh! oh!" cried Grizel, and he pulled +her closer to him, saying, "The more reason we should join thegither; +Grizel, if you don't take pity on me, and come and bide with me and be +my little housekeeper, the Lord Almighty only knows what is to become of +the old doctor." + +At this she broke away from him, and stood far back pressing her arms to +her sides, and she cried, "It is not out of charity you ask me, is it?" +and then she went a little nearer. "You would not say it if it wasn't +true, would you?" + +"No, my dawtie, it's true," he told her, and if he had been pitying +himself a little, there was an end of that now. + +She remembered something and cried joyously, "And you knew what was in +my blood before you asked me, so I don't need to tell you, do I? And you +are not afraid that I shall corrupt you, are you? And you don't think it +a pity I didn't die when I was a tiny baby, do you? Some people think +so, I heard them say it." + +"What would have become of me?" was all he dared answer in words, but he +drew her to him again, and when she asked if it was true, as she had +heard some woman say, that in some matters men were all alike, and did +what that one man had done to her mamma, he could reply solemnly, "No, +it is not true; it's a lie that has done more harm than any war in any +century." + +She sat on his knee, telling him many things that had come recently to +her knowledge but were not so new to him. The fall of woman was the +subject, a strange topic for a girl of thirteen and a man of sixty. They +don't become wicked in a moment, he learned; if they are good to begin +with, it takes quite a long time to make them bad. Her mamma was good to +begin with. "I know she was good, because when she thought she was the +girl she used to be, she looked sweet and said lovely things." The way +the men do is this, they put evil thoughts into the woman's head, and +say them often to her, till she gets accustomed to them, and thinks they +cannot be bad when the man she loves likes them, and it is called +corrupting the mind. + +"And then a baby comes to them," Grizel said softly, "and it is called a +child of shame. I am a child of shame." + +He made no reply, so she looked up, and his face was very old and sad. +"I am sorry too," she whispered, but still he said nothing, and then she +put her fingers on his eyes to discover if they were wet, and they were +wet. And so Grizel knew that there was someone who loved her at last. + +The mirror was the only article of value that Grizel took with her to +her new home; everything else was rouped at the door of Double Dykes; +Tommy, who should have been at his books, acting as auctioneer's clerk +for sixpence. There are houses in Thrums where you may still be told who +got the bed and who the rocking-chair, and how Nether Drumgley's wife +dared him to come home without the spinet; but it is not by the sales +that the roup is best remembered. Curiosity took many persons into +Double Dykes that day, and in the room that had never been furnished +they saw a mournful stack of empty brandy bottles, piled there by the +auctioneer who had found them in every corner, beneath the bed, in +presses, in boxes, whither they had been thrust by Grizel's mamma, as +if to conceal their number from herself. The counting of these bottles +was a labor, but it is not even by them that the roup is remembered. +Among them some sacrilegious hands found a bundle of papers with a sad +blue ribbon round them. They were the Painted Lady's love-letters, the +letters she had written to the man. Why or how they had come back to her +no one knew. + +Most of them were given to Grizel, but a dozen or more passed without +her leave into the kists of various people, where often since then they +have been consulted by swains in need of a pretty phrase; and Tommy's +school-fellows, the very boys and girls who hooted the Painted Lady, +were in time--so oddly do things turn out--to be among those whom her +letters taught how to woo. Where the kists did not let in the damp or +careless fingers, the paper long remained clean, the ink but little +faded. Some of the letters were creased, as if they had once been much +folded, perhaps for slipping into secret hiding-places, but none of them +bore any address or a date. "To my beloved," was sometimes written on +the cover, and inside he was darling or beloved again. So no one could +have arranged them in the order in which they were written, though there +was a three-cornered one which said it was the first. There was a violet +in it, clinging to the paper as if they were fond of each other, and +Grizel's mamma had written, "The violet is me, hiding in a corner +because I am so happy." The letters were in many moods, playful, +reflective, sad, despairing, arch, but all were written in an ecstasy of +the purest love, and most of them were cheerful, so that you seemed to +see the sun dancing on the paper while she wrote, the same sun that +afterwards showed up her painted cheeks. Why they came back to her no +one ever discovered, any more than how she who slipped the violet into +that three-cornered one and took it out to kiss again and wrote, "It is +my first love-letter, and I love it so much I am reluctant to let it +go," became in a few years the derision of the Double Dykes. Some of +these letters may be in old kists still, but whether that is so or not, +they alone have passed the Painted Lady's memory from one generation to +another, and they have purified it, so that what she was died with her +vile body, and what she might have been lived on, as if it were her true +self. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +WHO TOLD TOMMY TO SPEAK + + +"Miss Alison Cray presents her compliments to--and requests the favor of +their company at her marriage with Mr. Ivie McLean, on January 8th, at +six o'clock." + +Tommy in his Sabbath clothes, with a rose from the Dovecot hot-house for +buttonhole (which he slipped into his pocket when he saw other boys +approaching), delivered them at the doors of the aristocracy, where, by +the way, he had been a few weeks earlier, with another circular. + +"Miss Alison Cray being about to give up school, has pleasure in stating +that she has disposed of the good-will of her establishment to Miss +Jessy Langlands and Miss S. Oram, who will enter upon their scholastic +duties on January 9th, at Hoods Cottage, where she most cordially," and +so on. + +Here if the writer dared (but you would be so angry) he would introduce +at the length of a chapter two brand-new characters, the Misses +Langlands and Oram, who suddenly present themselves to him in the most +sympathetic light. Miss Ailie has been safely stowed to port, but their +little boat is only setting sail, and they are such young ones, neither +out of her teens, that he would fain turn for a time from her to them. +Twelve pounds they paid for the good-will, and, oh, the exciting +discussions, oh, the scraping to get the money together! If little Miss +Langlands had not been so bold, big Miss Oram must have drawn back, but +if Miss Oram had not had that idea about a paper partition, of what +avail the boldness of Miss Langlands? How these two trumps of girls +succeeded in hiring the Painted Lady's spinet from Nether Drumgley--in +the absence of his wife, who on her way home from buying a cochin-china +met the spinet in a cart--how the mother of one of them, realizing in a +klink that she was common no more, henceforth wore black caps instead of +mutches (but the father dandered on in the old plebeian way), what the +enterprise meant to a young man in distant Newcastle, whose favorite +name was Jessy, how the news travelled to still more distant Canada, +where a family of emigrants which had left its Sarah behind in Thrums, +could talk of nothing else for weeks--it is hard to have to pass on +without dwelling on these things, and indeed--but pass on we must. + +The chief figure at the wedding of Miss Ailie was undoubtedly Mr. T. +Sandys. When one remembers his prominence, it is difficult to think that +the wedding could have taken place without him. It was he (in his +Sabbath clothes again, and now flaunting his buttonhole brazenly) who +in insulting language ordered the rabble to stand back there. It was he +who dashed out to the 'Sosh to get a hundred ha'pennies for the fifty +pennies Mr. McLean had brought to toss into the air. It was he who went +round in the carriage to pick up the guests and whisked them in and out, +and slammed the door, and saw to it that the minister was not kept +waiting, and warned Miss Ailie that if she did not come now they should +begin without her. It was he who stood near her with a handkerchief +ready in his hand lest she took to crying on her new brown silk (Miss +Ailie was married in brown silk after all). As a crown to his audacity, +it was he who told Mr. Dishart, in the middle of a noble passage, to +mind the lamp. + +These duties were Dr. McQueen's, the best man, but either demoralized by +the bridegroom, who went all to pieces at the critical moment and was +much more nervous than the bride, or in terror lest Grizel, who had sent +him to the wedding speckless and most beautifully starched, should +suddenly appear at the door and cry, "Oh, oh, take your fingers off your +shirt!" he was through other till the knot was tied, and then it was too +late, for Tommy had made his mark. It was Tommy who led the way to the +school-room, where the feast was ready, it was Tommy who put the guests +in their places (even the banker cringed to him), it was. Tommy who +winked to Mr. Dishart as a sign to say grace. As you will readily +believe, Miss Ailie could not endure the thought of excluding her +pupils from the festivities, and they began to arrive as soon as the +tables had been cleared of all save oranges and tarts and raisins. +Tommy, waving Gavinia aside, showed them in, and one of them, curious to +tell, was Corp, in borrowed blacks, and Tommy shook hands with him and +called him Mr. Shiach, both new experiences to Corp, who knocked over a +table in his anxiety to behave himself, and roared at intervals "Do you +see the little deevil!" and bit his warts and then politely swallowed +the blood. + +As if oranges and tarts and raisins were not enough, came the Punch and +Judy show, Tommy's culminating triumph. All the way to Redlintie had Mr. +McLean sent for the Punch and Judy show, and nevertheless there was a +probability of no performance, for Miss Ailie considered the show +immoral. Most anxious was she to give pleasure to her pupils, and this +she knew was the best way, but how could she countenance an +entertainment which was an encouragement to every form of vice and +crime? To send these children to the Misses Langlands and Oram, fresh +from an introduction to the comic view of murder! It could not be done, +now could it? Mr. McLean could make no suggestion. Mr. Dishart thought +it would be advisable to substitute another entertainment; was there not +a game called "The Minister's Cat"? Mrs. Dishart thought they should +have the show and risk the consequences. So also thought Dr. McQueen. +The banker was consulted, but saw no way out of the difficulty, nor did +the lawyer, nor did the Misses Finlayson. Then Tommy appeared on the +scene, and presently retired to find a way. + +He found it. The performance took place, and none of the fun was +omitted, yet neither Miss Ailie--tuts, tuts Mrs. McLean--nor Mr. Dishart +could disapprove. Punch did chuck his baby out at the window (roars of +laughter) in his jovial time-honored way, _but_ immediately thereafter +up popped the showman to say, "Ah, my dear boys and girls, let this be a +lesson to you never to destroy your offsprings. Oh, shame on Punch, for +to do the wicked deed; he will be catched in the end and serve him +right." Then when Mr. Punch had wolloped his wife with the stick, amid +thunders of applause, up again bobbed the showman, "Ah, my dear boys and +girls, what a lesson is this we sees, what goings on is this? He have +bashed the head of her as should ha' been the apple of his eye, and he +does not care a--he does not care; but mark my words, his home it will +now be desolate, no more shall she meet him at his door with kindly +smile, he have done for her quite, and now he is a hunted man. Oh, be +warned by his sad igsample, and do not bash the head of your loving +wife." And there was a great deal more of the same, and simple Mrs. +McLean almost wept tears of joy because her favorite's good heart had +suggested these improvements. + +Grizel was not at the wedding; she was invited, but could not go +because she was in mourning. But only her parramatty frock was in +mourning, for already she had been the doctor's housekeeper for two full +months, and her father had not appeared to plague her (he never did +appear, it may be told at once), and so how could her face be woeful +when her heart leapt with gladness? Never had prisoner pined for the +fields more than this reticent girl to be frank, and she poured out her +inmost self to the doctor, so that daily he discovered something +beautiful (and exasperating) about womanhood. And it was his love for +her that had changed her. "You do love me, don't you?" she would say, +and his answer might be "I have told you that fifty times already;" to +which she would reply, gleefully, "That is not often, I say it all day +to myself." + +Exasperating? Yes, that was the word. Long before summer came, the +doctor knew that he had given himself into the hands of a tyrant. It was +idle his saying that this irregularity and that carelessness were habits +that had become part of him; she only rocked her arms impatiently, and +if he would not stand still to be put to rights, then she would follow +him along the street, brushing him as he walked, a sight that was +witnessed several times while he was in the mutinous stage. + +"Talk about masterfulness," he would say, when she whipped off his coat +or made a dart at the mud on his trousers; "you are the most masterful +little besom I ever clapped eyes on." + +But as he said it he perhaps crossed his legs, and she immediately +cried, "You have missed two holes in lacing your boots!" + +Of a morning he would ask her sarcastically to examine him from top to +toe and see if he would do, and examine him she did, turning him round, +pointing out that he had been sitting "again" on his tails, that oh, oh, +he must have cut that buttonhole with his knife. He became most artful +in hiding deficiencies from her, but her suspicions once roused would +not sleep, and all subterfuge was vain. "Why have you buttoned your coat +up tight to the throat to-day?" she would demand sternly. + +"It is such a cold morning," he said. + +"That is not the reason," she replied at once (she could see through +broadcloth at a glance), "I believe you have on the old necktie again, +and you promised to buy a new one." + +"I always forget about it when I'm out," he said humbly, and next +evening he found on his table a new tie, made by Grizel herself out of +her mamma's rokelay. + +It was related by one who had dropped in at the doctor's house +unexpectedly, that he found Grizel making a new shirt, and forcing the +doctor to try on the sleeves while they were still in the pin stage. + +She soon knew his every want, and just as he was beginning to want it, +there it was at his elbow. He realized what a study she had made of him +when he heard her talking of his favorite dishes and his favorite seat, +and his way of biting his underlip when in thought, and how hard he was +on his left cuff. It had been one of his boasts that he had no favorite +dishes, etc., but he saw now that he had been a slave to them for years +without knowing it. + +She discussed him with other mothers as if he were her little boy, and +he denounced her for it. But all the time she was spoiling him. Formerly +he had got on very well when nothing was in its place. Now he roared +helplessly if he mislaid his razor. + +He was determined to make a lady of her, which necessitated her being +sent to school; she preferred hemming, baking and rubbing things till +they shone, and not both could have had their way (which sounds fatal +for the man), had they not arranged a compromise, Grizel, for instance, +to study geography for an hour in the evening with Miss Langlands (go to +school in the daytime she would not) so long as the doctor shaved every +morning, but if no shave no geography; the doctor to wipe his pen on the +blot-sheet instead of on the lining of his coat if she took three +lessons a week from Miss Oram on the spinet. How happy and proud she +was! Her glee was a constant source of wonder to McQueen. Perhaps she +put on airs a little, her walk, said the critical, had become a strut; +but how could she help that when the new joyousness of living was +dancing and singing within her? + +Had all her fears for the future rolled away like clouds that leave no +mark behind? The doctor thought so at times, she so seldom spoke of them +to him; he did not see that when they came she hid them from him because +she had discovered that they saddened him. And she had so little time to +brood, being convinced of the sinfulness of sitting still, that if the +clouds came suddenly, they never stayed long save once, and then it was, +mayhap, as well. The thunderclap was caused by Tommy, who brought it on +unintentionally and was almost as much scared by his handiwork as Grizel +herself. She and he had been very friendly of late, partly because they +shared with McQueen the secret of the frustrated elopement, partly +because they both thought that in that curious incident Tommy had +behaved in a most disinterested and splendid way. Grizel had not been +sure of it at first, but it had grown on Tommy, he had so thoroughly +convinced himself of his intention to get into the train with her at +Tilliedrum that her doubts were dispelled--easily dispelled, you say, +but the truth must be told, Grizel was very anxious to be rid of them. +And Tommy's were honest convictions, born full grown of a desire for +happiness to all. Had Elspeth discovered how nearly he had deserted her, +the same sentiment would have made him swear to her with tears that +never should he have gone farther than Tilliedrum, and while he was +persuading her he would have persuaded himself. Then again, when he met +Grizel--well, to get him in doubt it would have been necessary to catch +him on the way between these two girls. + +So Tommy and Grizel were friends, and finding that it hurt the doctor to +speak on a certain subject to him, Grizel gave her confidences to Tommy. +She had a fear, which he shared on its being explained to him, that she +might meet a man of the stamp of her father, and grow fond of him before +she knew the kind he was, and as even Tommy could not suggest an +infallible test which would lay them bare at the first glance, he +consented to consult Blinder once more. He found the blind man by his +fire-side, very difficult to coax into words on the important topic, but +Tommy's "You've said ower much no to tell a bit more," seemed to impress +him, and he answered the question,-- + +"You said a woman should fly frae the like o' Grizel's father though it +should be to the other end of the world, but how is she to ken that he's +that kind?" + +"She'll ken," Blinder answered after thinking it over, "if she likes him +and fears him at one breath, and has a sort of secret dread that he's +getting a power ower her that she canna resist." + +These words were a flash of light on a neglected corner to Tommy. "Now I +see, now I ken," he exclaimed, amazed; "now I ken what my mother meant! +Blinder, is that no the kind of man that's called masterful?" + +"It's what poor women find them and call them to their cost," said +Blinder. + +Tommy's excitement was prodigious. "Now I ken, now I see!" he cried, +slapping his leg and stamping up and down the room. + +"Sit down!" roared his host. + +"I canna," retorted the boy. "Oh, to think o't, to think I came to speir +that question at you, to think her and me has wondered what kind he was, +and I kent a' the time!" Without staying to tell Blinder what he was +blethering about, he hurried off to Grizel, who was waiting for him in +the Den, and to her he poured out his astonishing news. + +"I ken all about them, I've kent since afore I came to Thrums, but +though I generally say the prayer, I've forgot to think o' what it +means." In a stampede of words he told her all he could remember of his +mother's story as related to him on a grim night in London so long ago, +and she listened eagerly. And when that was over, he repeated first his +prayer and then Elspeth's, "O God, whatever is to be my fate, may I +never be one of them that bow the knee to masterful man, and if I was +born like that and canna help it, O take me up to heaven afore I'm +fil't." Grizel repeated it after him until she had it by heart, and even +as she said it a strange thing happened, for she began to draw back +from Tommy, with a look of terror on her face. + +"What makes you look at me like that?" he cried. + +"I believe--I think--you are masterful," she gasped. + +"Me!" he retorted indignantly. + +"Now," she went on, waving him back, "now I know why I would not give in +to you when you wanted me to be Stroke's wife. I was afraid you were +masterful!" + +"Was that it?" cried Tommy. + +"Now," she proceeded, too excited to heed his interruptions, "now I know +why I would not kiss your hand, now I know why I would not say I liked +you. I was afraid of you, I--" + +"Were you?" His eyes began to sparkle, and something very like rapture +was pushing the indignation from his face. "Oh, Grizel, have I a power +ower you?" + +"No, you have not," she cried passionately. "I was just frightened that +you might have. Oh, oh, I know you now!" + +"To think o't, to think o't!" he crowed, wagging his head, and then she +clenched her fist, crying, "Oh, you wicked, you should cry with shame!" + +But he had his answer ready, "It canna be my wite, for I never kent o't +till you telled me. Grizel, it has just come about without either of us +kenning!" + +She shuddered at this, and then seized him by the shoulders. "It has +not come about at all," she said, "I was only frightened that it might +come, and now it can't come, for I won't let it." + +"But can you help yoursel'?" + +"Yes, I can. I shall never be friends with you again." + +She had such a capacity for keeping her word that this alarmed him, and +he did his best to extinguish his lights. "I'm no masterful, Grizel," he +said, "and I dinna want to be, it was just for a minute that I liked the +thought." She shook her head, but his next words had more effect. "If I +had been that kind, would I have teached you Elspeth's prayer?" + +"N-no, I don't think so," she said slowly, and perhaps he would have +succeeded in soothing her, had not a sudden thought brought back the +terror to her face. + +"What is 't now?" he asked. + +"Oh, oh, oh!" she cried, "and I nearly went away with you!" and without +another word she fled from the Den. She never told the doctor of this +incident, and in time it became a mere shadow in the background, so that +she was again his happy housekeeper, but that was because she had found +strength to break with Tommy. She was only an eager little girl, +pathetically ignorant about what she wanted most to understand, but she +saw how an instinct had been fighting for her, and now it should not +have to fight alone. How careful she became! All Tommy's wiles were +vain, she would scarcely answer if he spoke to her; if he had ever +possessed a power over her it was gone, Elspeth's prayer had saved her. + +Jean Myles had told Tommy to teach that prayer to Elspeth; but who had +told him to repeat it to Grizel? + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +THE BRANDING OF TOMMY + + +Grizel's secession had at least one good effect: it gave Tommy more time +in which to make a scholar of himself. Would you like a picture of Tommy +trying to make a scholar of himself? + +They all helped him in their different ways: Grizel, by declining his +company; Corp, by being far away at Look-about-you, adding to the inches +of a farm-house; Aaron Latta, by saying nothing but looking "college or +the herding;" Mr. McLean, who had settled down with Ailie at the +Dovecot, by inquiries about his progress; Elspeth by--but did Elspeth's +talks with him about how they should live in Aberdeen and afterwards +(when they were in the big house) do more than send his mind a-galloping +(she holding on behind) along roads that lead not to Aberdeen? What +drove Tommy oftenest to the weary drudgery was, perhaps, the alarm that +came over him when he seemed of a sudden to hear the names of the +bursars proclaimed and no Thomas Sandys among them. Then did he shudder, +for well he knew that Aaron would keep his threat, and he hastily +covered the round table with books and sat for hours sorrowfully +pecking at them, every little while to discover that his mind had soared +to other things, when he hauled it back, as one draws in a reluctant +kite. On these occasions Aaron seldom troubled him, except by glances +that, nevertheless, brought the kite back more quickly than if they had +been words of warning. If Elspeth was present, the warper might sit +moodily by the fire, but when the man and the boy were left together, +one or other of them soon retired, as if this was the only way of +preserving the peace. Though determined to keep his word to Jean Myles +liberally, Aaron had never liked Tommy, and Tommy's avoidance of him is +easily accounted for; he knew that Aaron did not admire him, and unless +you admired Tommy he was always a boor in your presence, shy and +self-distrustful. Especially was this so if you were a lady (how +amazingly he got on in after years with some of you, what agony others +endured till he went away!), and it is the chief reason why there are +such contradictory accounts of him to-day. + +Sometimes Mr. Cathro had hopes of him other than those that could only +be revealed in a shameful whisper with the door shut. "Not so bad," he +might say to Mr. McLean; "if he keeps it up we may squeeze him through +yet, without trusting to--to what I was fool enough to mention to you. +The mathematics are his weak point, there's nothing practical about him +(except when it's needed to carry out his devil's designs) and he cares +not a doit about the line A B, nor what it's doing in the circle K, but +there's whiles he surprises me when we're at Homer. He has the spirit +o't, man, even when he bogles at the sense." + +But the next time Ivie called for a report--! + +In his great days, so glittering, so brief (the days of the penny Life) +Tommy, looking back to this year, was sure that he had never really +tried to work. But he had. He did his very best, doggedly, wearily +sitting at the round table till Elspeth feared that he was killing +himself and gave him a melancholy comfort by saying so. An hour +afterwards he might discover that he had been far away from his books, +looking on at his affecting death and counting the mourners at the +funeral. + +Had he thought that Grizel's discovery was making her unhappy he would +have melted at once, but never did she look so proud as when she +scornfully passed him by, and he wagged his head complacently over her +coming chagrin when she heard that he had carried the highest bursary. +Then she would know what she had flung away. This should have helped him +to another struggle with his lexicon, but it only provided a breeze for +the kite, which flew so strong that he had to let go the string. + +Aaron and the Dominie met one day in the square, and to Aaron's surprise +Mr. Cathro's despondency about Tommy was more pronounced than before. +"I wonder at that," the warper said, "for I assure you he has been +harder 'at it than ever thae last nights. What's more, he used to look +doleful as he sat at his table, but I notice now that he's as sweer to +leave off as he's keen to begin, and the face of him is a' eagerness +too, and he reads ower to himself what he has wrote and wags his head at +it as if he thought it grand." + +"Say you so?" asked Cathro, suspiciously; "does he leave what he writes +lying about, Aaron?" + +"No, but he takes it to you, does he no'?" + +"Not him," said the Dominie, emphatically. "I may be mistaken, Aaron, +but I'm doubting the young whelp is at his tricks again." + +The Dominie was right, and before many days passed he discovered what +was Tommy's new and delicious occupation. + +For years Mr. Cathro had been in the habit of writing letters for such +of the populace as could not guide a pen, and though he often told them +not to come deaving him he liked the job, unexpected presents of a hen +or a ham occasionally arriving as his reward, while the personal matters +thus confided to him, as if he were a safe for the banking of private +histories, gave him and his wife gossip for winter nights. Of late the +number of his clients had decreased without his noticing it, so +confident was he that they could not get on without him, but he +received a shock at last from Andrew Dickie, who came one Saturday night +with paper, envelope, a Queen's head, and a request for a letter for +Bell Birse, now of Tilliedrum. + +"You want me to speir in your name whether she'll have you, do you?" +asked Cathro, with a flourish of his pen. + +"It's no just so simple as that," said Andrew, and then he seemed to be +rather at a loss to say what it was. "I dinna ken," he continued +presently with a grave face, "whether you've noticed that I'm a gey +queer deevil? Losh, I think I'm the queerest deevil I ken." + +"We are all that," the Dominie assured him. "But what do you want me to +write?" + +"Well, it's like this," said Andrew, "I'm willing to marry her if she's +agreeable, but I want to make sure that she'll take me afore I speir +her. I'm a proud man, Dominie." + +"You're a sly one!" + +"Am I no!" said Andrew, well pleased. "Well, could you put the letter in +that wy?" + +"I wouldna," replied Mr. Cathro, "though I could, and I couldna though I +would. It would defy the face of clay to do it, you canny lover." + +Now, the Dominie had frequently declined to write as he was bidden, and +had suggested alterations which were invariably accepted, but to his +astonishment Andrew would not give in. "I'll be stepping, then," he +said coolly, "for if you hinna the knack o't I ken somebody that has." + +"Who?" demanded the irate Dominie. + +"I promised no to tell you," replied Andrew, and away he went. Mr. +Cathro expected him to return presently in humbler mood, but was +disappointed, and a week or two afterwards he heard Andrew and Mary Jane +Proctor cried in the parish church. "Did Bell Birse refuse him?" he +asked the kirk officer, and was informed that Bell had never got a +chance. "His letter was so cunning," said John, "that without speiring +her, it drew ane frae her in which she let out that she was centred on +Davit Allardyce." + +"But who wrote Andrew's letter?" asked Mr. Cathro, sharply. + +"I thought it had been yoursel'," said John, and the Dominie chafed, and +lost much of the afternoon service by going over in his mind the names +of possible rivals. He never thought of Tommy. + +Then a week or two later fell a heavier blow. At least twice a year the +Dominie had written for Meggy Duff to her daughter in Ireland a long +letter founded on this suggestion, "Dear Kaytherine, if you dinna send +ten shillings immediately, your puir auld mother will have neither house +nor hame. I'm crying to you for't, Kaytherine; hearken and you'll hear +my cry across the cauldriff sea." He met Meggy in the Banker's Close one +day, and asked her pleasantly if the time was not drawing nigh for +another appeal. + +"I have wrote," replied the old woman, giving her pocket a boastful +smack, which she thus explained, "And it was the whole ten shillings +this time, and you never got more for me than five." + +"Who wrote the letter for you?" he asked, lowering. + +She, too, it seemed, had promised not to tell. + +"Did you promise to tell nobody, Meggy, or just no to tell me," he +pressed her, of a sudden suspecting Tommy. + +"Just no to tell you," she answered, and at that. + +"Da-a-a," began the Dominie, and then saved his reputation by adding +"gont." The derivation of the word dagont has puzzled many, but here we +seem to have it. + +It is interesting to know what Tommy wrote. The general opinion was that +his letter must have been a triumph of eloquent appeal, and indeed he +had first sketched out several masterpieces, all of some length and in +different styles, but on the whole not unlike the concoctions of Meggy's +former secretary; that is, he had dwelt on the duties of daughters, on +the hardness of the times, on the certainty that if Katherine helped +this time assistance would never be needed again. This sort of thing had +always satisfied the Dominie, but Tommy, despite his several attempts, +had a vague consciousness that there was something second-rate about +them, and he tapped on his brain till it responded. The letter he +despatched to Ireland, but had the wisdom not to read aloud even to +Meggy, contained nothing save her own words, "Dear Kaytherine, if you +dinna send ten shillings immediately, your puir auld mother will have +neither house nor hame. I'm crying to you for't, Kaytherine; hearken and +you'll hear my cry across the cauldriff sea." It was a call from the +heart which transported Katherine to Thrums in a second of time, she +seemed to see her mother again, grown frail since last they met--and so +all was well for Meggy. Tommy did not put all this to himself but he +felt it, and after that he _could not_ have written the letter +differently. Happy Tommy! To be an artist is a great thing, but to be an +artist and not know it is the most glorious plight in the world. + +Other fickle clients put their correspondence into the boy's hands, and +Cathro found it out but said nothing. Dignity kept him in check; he did +not even let the tawse speak for him. So well did he dissemble that +Tommy could not decide how much he knew, and dreaded his getting hold of +some of the letters, yet pined to watch his face while he read them. +This could not last forever. Mr. Cathro was like a haughty kettle which +has choked its spout that none may know it has come a-boil, and we all +know what in that event must happen sooner or later to the lid. + +The three boys who had college in the tail of their eye had certain +privileges not for the herd. It was taken for granted that when +knowledge came their way they needed no overseer to make them stand +their ground, and accordingly for great part of the day they had a back +bench to themselves, with half a dozen hedges of boys and girls between +them and the Dominie. From his chair Mr. Cathro could not see them, but +a foot-board was nailed to it, and when he stood on this, as he had an +aggravating trick of doing, softly and swiftly, they were suddenly in +view. A large fire had been burning all day and the atmosphere was +soporific. Mr. Cathro was so sleepy himself that the sight of a nodding +head enraged him like a caricature, and he was on the foot-board +frequently for the reason that makes bearded men suck peppermints in +church. Against his better judgment he took several peeps at Tommy, whom +he had lately suspected of writing his letters in school or at least of +gloating over them on that back bench. To-day he was sure of it. However +absorbing Euclid may be, even the forty-seventh of the first book does +not make you chuckle and wag your head; you can bring a substantive in +Virgil back to the verb that has lost it without looking as if you would +like to exhibit them together in the square. But Tommy was thus elated +until he gave way to grief of the most affecting kind. Now he looked +gloomily before him as if all was over, now he buried his face in his +hands, next his eyes were closed as if in prayer. All this the Dominie +stood from him, but when at last he began to blubber-- + +At the blackboard was an arithmetic class, slates in hand, each member +adding up aloud in turn a row of figures. By and by it was known that +Cathro had ceased to listen. "Go on," his voice rather than himself +said, and he accepted Mary Dundas's trembling assertion that four and +seven make ten. Such was the faith in Cathro that even boys who could +add promptly turned their eleven into ten, and he did not catch them at +it. So obviously was his mind as well as his gaze on, something beyond, +that Sandy Riach, a wit who had been waiting his chance for years, +snapped at it now, and roared "Ten and eleven, nineteen" ("Go on," said +Cathro), "and four, twenty," gasped Sandy, "and eight, sixteen," he +added, gaining courage. "Very good," nmrmured the Dominie, whereupon +Sandy clenched his reputation forever by saying, in one glorious +mouthful, "and six, eleven, and two, five, and one, nocht." + +There was no laughing at it then (though Sandy held a levee in the +evening), they were all so stricken with amazement. By one movement they +swung round to see what had fascinated Cathro, and the other classes +doing likewise, Tommy became suddenly the centre of observation. Big +tears were slinking down his face, and falling on some sheets of paper, +which emotion prevented his concealing. Anon the unusual stillness in +the school made him look up, but he was dazed, like one uncertain of his +whereabouts, and he blinked rapidly to clear his eyes, as a bird shakes +water from its wings. + +Mr. Cathro first uttered what was afterward described as a kind of +throttled skirl, and then he roared "Come here!" whereupon Tommy stepped +forward heavily, and tried, as commanded, to come to his senses, but it +was not easy to make so long a journey in a moment, and several times, +as he seemed about to conquer his fears, a wave of feeling set them +flowing again. + +"Take your time," said Mr. Cathro, grimly, "I can wait," and this had +such a helpful effect that Tommy was able presently to speak up for his +misdeeds. They consisted of some letters written at home but brought to +the school for private reading, and the Dominie got a nasty jar when he +saw that they were all signed "Betsy Grieve." Miss Betsy Grieve, servant +to Mr. Duthie, was about to marry, and these letters were +acknowledgments of wedding presents. Now, Mr. Cathro had written similar +letters for Betsy only a few days before. + +"Did she ask you to write these for her?" he demanded, fuming, and Tommy +replied demurely that she had. He could not help adding, though he felt +the unwisdom of it, "She got some other body to do them first, but his +letters didna satisfy her." + +"Oh!" said Mr. Cathro, and it was such a vicious oh that Tommy squeaked +tremblingly, "I dinna know who he was." + +Keeping his mouth shut by gripping his underlip with his teeth, the +Dominie read the letters, and Tommy gazed eagerly at him, all fear +forgotten, soul conquering body. The others stood or sat waiting, +perplexed as to the cause, confident of the issue. The letters were much +finer productions than Cathro's, he had to admit it to himself as he +read. Yet the rivals had started fair, for Betsy was a recent immigrant +from Dunkeld way, and the letters were to people known neither to Tommy +nor to the Dominie. Also, she had given the same details for the +guidance of each. A lady had sent a teapot, which affected to be new, +but was not; Betsy recognized it by a scratch on the lid, and wanted to +scratch back, but politely. So Tommy wrote, "When you come to see me we +shall have a cup of tea out of your beautiful present, and it will be +like a meeting of three old friends." That was perhaps too polite, Betsy +feared, but Tommy said authoritatively, "No, the politer the nippier." + +There was a set of six cups and saucers from Peter something, who had +loved Betsy in vain. She had shown the Dominie and Tommy the ear-rings +given her long ago by Peter (they were bought with 'Sosh checks) and the +poem he had written about them, and she was most anxious to gratify him +in her reply. All Cathro could do, however, was to wish Peter well in +some ornate sentences, while Tommy's was a letter that only a tender +woman's heart could have indited, with such beautiful touches about the +days which are no more alas forever, that Betsy listened to it with +heaving breast and felt so sorry for her old swain that, forgetting she +had never loved him, she all but gave Andrew the go-by and returned to +Peter. As for Peter, who had been getting over his trouble, he saw now +for the first time what he had lost, and he carried Betsy's dear letter +in his oxter pocket and was inconsolable. + +But the masterpiece went to Mrs. Dinnie, baker, in return for a flagon +bun. Long ago her daughter, Janet, and Betsy had agreed to marry on the +same day, and many a quip had Mrs. Dinnie cast at their romantic +compact. But Janet died, and so it was a sad letter that Tommy had to +write to her mother. "I'm doubting you're no auld enough for this ane," +soft-hearted Betsy said, but she did not know her man. "Tell me some one +thing the mother used often to say when she was taking her fun off the +pair of you," he said, and "Where is she buried?" was a suggestive +question, with the happy tag, "Is there a tree hanging over the grave?" +Thus assisted, he composed a letter that had a tear in every sentence. +Betsy rubbed her eyes red over it, and not all its sentiments were +allowed to die, for Mrs. Dinnie, touched to the heart, printed the best +of them in black licorice on short bread for funeral feasts, at which +they gave rise to solemn reflections as they went down. + +Nevertheless, this letter affected none so much as the writer of it. His +first rough sketch became so damp as he wrote that he had to abandon his +pen and take to pencil; while he was revising he had often to desist to +dry his eyes on the coverlet of Aaron's bed, which made Elspeth weep +also, though she had no notion what he was at. But when the work was +finished he took her into the secret and read his letter to her, and he +almost choked as he did so. Yet he smiled rapturously through his woe, +and she knew no better than to be proud of him, and he woke next morning +with a cold, brought on you can see how, but his triumph was worth its +price. + +Having read the letter in an uncanny silence, Mr. Cathro unbottled Tommy +for the details, and out they came with a rush, blowing away the cork +discretion. Yet was the Dominie slow to strike; he seemed to find more +satisfaction in surveying his young friend with a wondering gaze that +had a dash of admiration in it, which Tommy was the first to note. + +"I don't mind admitting before the whole school," said Mr. Cathro, +slowly, "that if these letters had been addressed to me they would have +taken me in." + +Tommy tried to look modest, but his chest would have its way. + +"You little sacket," cried the Dominie, "how did you manage it?" + +"I think I thought I was Betsy at the time," Tommy answered, with proper +awe. + +"She told me nothing about the weeping-willow at the grave," said the +Dominie, perhaps in self-defence. + +"You hadna speired if there was one," retorted Tommy, jealously. + +"What made you think of it?" + +"I saw it might come in neat." (He had said in the letter that the +weeping-willow reminded him of the days when Janet's bonny hair hung +down kissing her waist just as the willow kissed the grave.) + +"Willows don't hang so low as you seem to think," said the Dominie. + +"Yes, they do," replied Tommy, "I walked three miles to see one to make +sure. I was near putting in another beautiful bit about +weeping-willows." + +"Well, why didn't you?" + +Tommy looked up with an impudent snigger. "You could never guess," he +said. + +"Answer me at once," thundered his preceptor. "Was it because--" + +"No," interrupted Tommy, so conscious of Mr. Cathro's inferiority that +to let him go on seemed waste of time. "It was because, though it is a +beautiful thing in itself, I felt a servant lassie wouldna have thought +o't. I was sweer," he admitted, with a sigh; then firmly, "but I cut it +out." + +Again Cathro admired, reluctantly. The hack does feel the difference +between himself and the artist. Cathro might possibly have had the idea, +he could not have cut it out. + +_But_ the hack is sometimes, or usually, or nearly always the artist's +master, and can make him suffer for his dem'd superiority. + +"What made you snivel when you read the pathetic bits?" asked Cathro, +with itching fingers. + +"I was so sorry for Peter and Mrs. Dinnie," Tommy answered, a little +puzzled himself now. "I saw them so clear." + +"And yet until Betsy came to you, you had never heard tell of them?" + +"No." + +"And on reflection you don't care a doit about them?" + +"N-no." + +"And you care as little for Betsy?" + +"No now, but at the time I a kind of thought I was to be married to +Andrew." + +"And even while you blubbered you were saying to yourself, 'What a +clever billie I am!'" + +Mr. Cathro had certainly intended to end the scene with the strap, but +as he stretched out his hand for it he had another idea. "Do you know +why Nether Drumgley's sheep are branded with the letters N.D.?" he asked +his pupils, and a dozen replied, "So as all may ken wha they belong to." + +"Precisely," said Mr. Cathro, "and similarly they used to brand a letter +on a felon, so that all might know whom _he_ belonged to." He crossed to +the fireplace, and, picking up a charred stick, wrote with it on the +forehead of startled Tommy the letters "S.T." + +"Now," said the Dominie complacently, "we know to whom Tommy belongs." + +All were so taken aback that for some seconds nothing could be heard +save Tommy indignantly wiping his brow; then "Wha is he?" cried one, the +mouthpiece of half a hundred. + +"He is one of the two proprietors we have just been speaking of," +replied Cathro, dryly, and turning again to Tommy, he said, "Wipe away, +Sentimental Tommy, try hot water, try cold water, try a knife, but you +will never get those letters off you; you are branded for ever and +ever." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +OF FOUR MINISTERS WHO AFTERWARDS BOASTED THAT THEY HAD KNOWN TOMMY +SANDYS + + +Bursary examination time had come, and to the siege of Aberdeen marched +a hungry half-dozen--three of them from Thrums, two from the Glenuharity +school. The sixth was Tod Lindertis, a ploughman from the Dubb of +Prosen, his place of study the bothy after lousing time (Do you hear the +klink of quoits?) or a one-roomed house near it, his tutor a dogged +little woman, who knew not the accusative from the dative, but never +tired of holding the book while Tod recited. Him someone greets with the +good-natured jeer, "It's your fourth try, is it no, Tod?" and he answers +cheerily, "It is, my lathie, and I'll keep kick, kick, kicking away to +the _n_th time." + +"Which means till the door flies open," says the dogged little woman, +who is the gallant Tod's no less gallant wife, and already the mother of +two. I hope Tod will succeed this time. + +The competitors, who were to travel part of the way on their shanks, met +soon after daybreak in Cathro's yard, where a little crowd awaited them, +parents trying to look humble, Mr. Duthie and Ramsay Cameron thinking +of the morning when they set off on the same errand--but the results +were different, and Mr. Duthie is now a minister, and Ramsay is in the +middle of another wob. Both dominies were present, hating each other, +for that day only, up to the mouth, where their icy politeness was a +thing to shudder at, and each was drilling his detachment to the last +moment, but by different methods; for while Mr. Cathro entreated Joe +Meldrum for God's sake to mind that about the genitive, and Willie +Simpson to keep his mouth shut and drink even water sparingly, Mr. +Ogilvy cracked jokes with Gav Dishart and explained them to Lauchlan +McLauchlan. "Think of anything now but what is before you," was Mr. +Ogilvy's advice. "Think of nothing else," roared Mr. Cathro. But though +Mr. Ogilvy seemed outwardly calm it was base pretence; his dickie +gradually wriggled through the opening of his waistcoat, as if bearing a +protest from his inward parts, and he let it hang crumpled and +conspicuous, while Grizel, on the outskirts of the crowd, yearned to put +it right. + +Grizel was not there, she told several people, including herself, to say +good-by to Tommy, and oh, how she scorned Elspeth, for looking as if +life would not be endurable without him. Knowing what Elspeth was, Tommy +had decided that she should not accompany him to the yard (of course she +was to follow him to Aberdeen if he distinguished himself--Mr. McLean +had promised to bring her), but she told him of her dream that he headed +the bursary list, and as this dream coincided with some dreams of his +own, though not with all, it seemed to give her such fortitude that he +let her come. An expressionless face was Tommy's, so that not even the +experienced dominie of Glenquharity, covertly scanning his rival's lot, +could tell whether he was gloomy or uplifted; he did not seem to be in +need of a long sleep like Willie Simpson, nor were his eyes glazed like +Gav Dishart's, who carried all the problems of Euclid before him on an +invisible blackboard and dared not even wink lest he displaced them, nor +did he, like Tod Lindertis, answer questions about his money pocket or +where he had stowed his bread and cheese with + +"After envy, spare, obey, +The dative put, remember, pray." + +Mr. Ogilvy noticed that Cathro tapped his forehead doubtfully every time +his eyes fell on Tommy, but otherwise shunned him, and he asked "What +are his chances?" + +"That's the laddie," replied Mr. Cathro, "who, when you took her +ladyship to see Corp Shiach years ago impersona--" + +"I know," Mr. Ogilvy interrupted him hastily, "but how will he stand, +think you?" + +Mr. Cathro coughed. "We'll see," he said guardedly. + +Nevertheless Tommy was not to get round the corner without betraying a +little of himself, for Elspeth having borne up magnificently when he +shook hands, screamed at the tragedy of his back and fell into the arms +of Tod's wife, whereupon Tommy first tried to brazen it out and then +kissed her in the presence of a score of witnesses, including Grizel, +who stamped her foot, though what right had she to be so angry? "I'm +sure," Elspeth sobbed, "that the professor would let me sit beside you; +I would just hunker on the floor and hold your foot and no say a word." +Tommy gave Tod's wife an imploring look, and she managed to comfort +Elspeth with predictions of his coming triumph and the reunion to +follow. Grateful Elspeth in return asked Tommy to help Tod when the +professors were not looking, and he promised, after which she had no +more fear for Tod. + +And now, ye drums that we all carry in our breasts, beat your best over +the bravest sight ever seen in a small Scotch town of an autumn morning, +the departure of its fighting lads for the lists at Aberdeen. Let the +tune be the sweet familiar one you found somewhere in the Bible long +ago, "The mothers we leave behind us"--leave behind us on their knees. +May it dirl through your bones, brave boys, to the end, as you hope not +to be damned. And now, quick march. + +A week has elapsed, and now--there is no call for music now, for these +are but the vanquished crawling back, Joe Meldrum and--and another. No, +it is not Tod, he stays on in Aberdeen, for he is a twelve-pound tenner. +The two were within a mile of Thrums at three o'clock, but after that +they lagged, waiting for the gloaming, when they stole to their homes, +ducking as they passed windows without the blinds down. Elspeth ran to +Tommy when he appeared in the doorway, and then she got quickly between +him and Aaron. The warper was sitting by the fire at his evening meal, +and he gave the wanderer a long steady look, then without a word +returned to his porridge and porter. It was a less hearty welcome home +even than Joe's; his mother was among those who had wept to lose her +son, but when he came back to her she gave him a whack on the head with +the thieval. + +Aaron asked not a question about those days in Aberdeen, but he heard a +little about them from Elspeth. Tommy had not excused himself to +Elspeth, he had let her do as she liked with his head (this was a great +treat to her), and while it lay pressed against hers, she made remarks +about Aberdeen professors which it would have done them good to hear. +These she repeated to Aaron, who was about to answer roughly, and then +suddenly put her on his knee instead. + +"They didna ask the right questions," she told him, and when the warper +asked if Tommy had said so, she declared that he had refused to say a +word against them, which seemed to her to cover him with glory. "But he +doubted they would make that mistake afore he started, she said +brightly, so you see he saw through them afore ever he set eyes on +them." + +Corp would have replied admiringly to this "Oh, the little deevil!" +(when he heard of Tommy's failure he wanted to fight Gav Dishart and +Willie Simpson), but Aaron was another kind of confidant, and even when +she explained on Tommy's authority that there are two kinds of +cleverness, the kind you learn from books and a kind that is inside +yourself, which latter was Tommy's kind, he only replied, + +"He can take it wi' him to the herding, then, and see if it'll keep the +cattle frae stravaiging." + +"It's no that kind of cleverness either," said Elspeth, quaking, and +quaked also Tommy, who had gone to the garret, to listen through the +floor. + +"No? I would like to ken what use his cleverness can be put to, then," +said Aaron, and Elspeth answered nothing, and Tommy only sighed, for +that indeed was the problem. But though to these three and to Cathro, +and to Mr. and Mrs. McLean and to others more mildly interested, it +seemed a problem beyond solution, there was one in Thrums who rocked her +arms at their denseness, a girl growing so long in the legs that twice +within the last year she had found it necessary to let down her +parramatty frock. As soon as she heard that Tommy had come home +vanquished, she put on the quaint blue bonnet with the white strings, +in which she fondly believed she looked ever so old (her period of +mourning was at an end, but she still wore her black dress) and +forgetting all except that he was unhappy, she ran to a certain little +house to comfort him. But she did not go in, for through the window she +saw Elspeth petting him, and that somehow annoyed her. In the evening, +however, she called on Mr. Cathro. + +Perhaps you want to know why she, who at last saw Sentimental Tommy in +his true light and spurned him accordingly, now exerted herself in his +behalf instead of going on with the papering of the surgery. Well, that +was the reason. She had put the question to herself before--not, indeed, +before going to Monypenny but before calling on the Dominie--and decided +that she wanted to send Tommy to college, because she disliked him so +much that she could not endure the prospect of his remaining in Thrums. +Now, are you satisfied? + +She could scarcely take time to say good-evening to Mr. Cathro before +telling him the object of her visit. "The letters Tommy has been writing +for people are very clever, are they not?" she began. + +"You've heard of them, have you?" + +"Everybody has heard of them," she said injudiciously, and he groaned +and asked if she had come to tell him this. But he admitted their +cleverness, whereupon she asked, "Well, if he is clever at writing +letters, would he not be clever at writing an essay?" + +"I wager my head against a snuff mull that he would be, but what are you +driving at?" + +"I was wondering whether he could not win the prize I heard Dr. McQueen +speaking about, the--is it not called the Hugh Blackadder?" + +"My head against a buckie that he could! Sit down, Grizel, I see what +you mean now. Ay, but the pity is he's not eligible for the Hugh +Blackadder. Oh, that he was, oh, that he was! It would make Ogilvy of +Glenquharity sing small at last! His loons have carried the Blackadder +for the last seven years without a break. The Hugh Blackadder +Mortification, the bequest is called, and, 'deed, it has been a sore +mortification to me!" + +Calming down, he told her the story of the bequest. Hugh Blackadder was +a Thrums man who made a fortune in America, and bequeathed the interest +of three hundred pounds of it to be competed for yearly by the youth of +his native place. He had grown fond of Thrums and all its ways over +there, and left directions that the prize should be given for the best +essay in the Scots tongue, the ministers of the town and glens to be the +judges, the competitors to be boys who were going to college, but had +not without it the wherewithal to support themselves. The ministers took +this to mean that those who carried small bursaries were eligible, and +indeed it had usually gone to a bursar. + +"Sentimental Tommy would not have been able to compete if he had got a +bursary," Mr. Cathro explained, "because however small it was Mr. McLean +meant to double it; and he can't compete without it, for McLean refuses +to help him now (he was here an hour since, saying the laddie was +obviously hopeless), so I never thought of entering Tommy for the +Blackadder. No, it will go to Ogilvy's Lauchlan McLauchlan, who is a +twelve-pounder, and, as there can be no competitors, he'll get it +without the trouble of coming back to write the essay." + +"But suppose Mr. McLean were willing to do what he promised if Tommy won +the Blackadder?" + +"It's useless to appeal to McLean. He's hard set against the laddie now +and washes his hands of him, saying that Aaron Latta is right after all. +He may soften, and get Tommy into a trade to save him from the herding, +but send him to college he won't, and indeed he's right, the laddie's +a fool." + +"Not at writing let--" + +"And what is the effect of his letter-writing, but to make me +ridiculous? Me! I wonder you can expect me to move a finger for him, he +has been my torment ever since his inscrutable face appeared at my +door." + +"Never mind him," said Grizel, cunningly. "But think what a triumph it +would be to you if your boy beat Mr. Ogilvy's." + +The Dominie rose in his excitement and slammed the table, "My certie, +lassie, but it would!" he cried, "Ogilvy looks on the Blackadder as his +perquisite, and he's surer of it than ever this year. And there's no +doubt but Tommy would carry it. My head to a buckie preen he would carry +it, and then, oh, for a sight of Ogilvy's face, oh, for--" He broke off +abruptly. "But what's the good of thinking of it?" he said, dolefully, +"Mr. McLean's a firm man when he makes up his mind." + +Nevertheless, though McLean, who had a Scotchman's faith in the verdict +of professors, and had been bitterly disappointed by Tommy's failure, +refused to be converted by the Dominie's entreaties, he yielded to them +when they were voiced by Ailie (brought into the plot _vice_ Grizel +retired), and Elspeth got round Aaron, and so it came about that with +his usual luck, Tommy was given another chance, present at the +competition, which took place in the Thrums school, the Rev. Mr. Duthie, +the Rev. Mr. Dishart, the Rev. Mr. Gloag of Noran Side, the Rev. Mr. +Lorrimer of Glenquharity (these on hair-bottomed chairs), and Mr. Cathro +and Mr. Ogilvy (cane); present also to a less extent (that is to say, +their faces at the windows), Corp and others, who applauded the local +champion when he entered and derided McLauchlan. The subject of the +essay was changed yearly, this time "A Day in Church" was announced, +and immediately Lauchlan McLauchlan, who had not missed a service since +his scarlet fever year (and too few then), smote his red head in agony, +while Tommy, who had missed as many as possible, looked calmly +confident. For two hours the competitors were put into a small room +communicating with the larger one, and Tommy began at once with a +confident smirk that presently gave way to a most holy expression; while +Lauchlan gaped at him and at last got started also, but had to pause +occasionally to rub his face on his sleeve, for like Corp he was one of +the kind who cannot think without perspiring. In the large room the +ministers gossiped about eternal punishment, and of the two dominies one +sat at his ease, like a passenger who knows that the coach will reach +the goal without any exertion on his part, while the other paced the +floor, with many a despondent glance through the open door whence the +scraping proceeded; and the one was pleasantly cool; and the other in a +plot of heat; and the one made genial remarks about every-day matters, +and the answers of the other stood on their heads. It was a familiar +comedy to Mr. Ogilvy, hardly a variation on what had happened five times +in six for many years: the same scene, the same scraping in the little +room, the same background of ministers (black-aviced Mr. Lorrimer had +begun to bark again), the same dominies; everything was as it had so +often been, except that he and Cathro had changed places; it was Cathro +who sat smiling now and Mr. Ogilvy who dolefully paced the floor. + +To be able to write! Throughout Mr. Ogilvy's life, save when he was +about one and twenty, this had seemed the great thing, and he ever +approached the thought reverently, as if it were a maid of more than +mortal purity. And it is, and because he knew this she let him see her +face, which shall ever be hidden from those who look not for the soul, +and to help him nearer to her came assistance in strange guise, the loss +of loved ones, dolour unutterable; but still she was beyond his reach. +Night by night, when the only light in the glen was the school-house +lamp, of use at least as a landmark to solitary travellers--who miss it +nowadays, for it burns no more--she hovered over him, nor did she deride +his hopeless efforts, but rather, as she saw him go from black to gray +and from gray to white in her service, were her luminous eyes sorrowful +because she was not for him, and she bent impulsively toward him, so +that once or twice in a long life he touched her fingers, and a heavenly +spark was lit, for he had risen higher than himself, and that is +literature. + +He knew that oblivion was at hand, ready to sweep away his pages almost +as soon as they were filled (Do we not all hear her besom when we pause +to dip?), but he had done his best and he had a sense of humor, and +perhaps some day would come a pupil of whom he could make what he had +failed to make of himself. That prodigy never did come, though it was +not for want of nursing, and there came at least, in succession most +maddening to Mr. Cathro, a row of youths who could be trained to carry +the Hugh Blackadder. Mr. Ogilvy's many triumphs in this competition had +not dulled his appetite for more, and depressed he was at the prospect +of a reverse. That it was coming now he could not doubt. McLauchlan, who +was to be Rev., had a flow of words (which would prevent his perspiring +much in the pulpit), but he could no more describe a familiar scene with +the pen than a milkmaid can draw a cow. The Thrums representatives were +sometimes as little gifted, it is true, and never were they so well +exercised, but this Tommy had the knack of it, as Mr. Ogilvy could not +doubt, for the story of his letter-writing had been through the glens. + +"Keep up your spirits," Mr. Lorrimer had said to Mm as they walked +together to the fray, "Cathro's loon may compose the better of the two, +but, as I understand, the first years of his life were spent in London, +and so he may bogle at the Scotch." + +But the Dominie replied, "Don't buoy me up on a soap bubble. If there's +as much in him as I fear, that should be a help to him instead of a +hindrance, for it will have set him a-thinking about the words he uses." + +And the satisfaction on Tommy's face when the subject of the essay was +given out, with the business-like way in which he set to work, had +added to the Dominie's misgivings; if anything was required to +dishearten him utterly it was provided by Cathro's confident smile. The +two Thrums ministers were naturally desirous that Tommy should win, but +the younger of them was very fond of Mr. Ogilvy, and noticing his +unhappy peeps through the door dividing the rooms, proposed that it +should be closed. He shut it himself, and as he did so he observed that +Tommy was biting his pen and frowning, while McLauchlan, having ceased +to think, was getting on nicely. But it did not strike Mr. Dishart that +this was worth commenting on. + +"Are you not satisfied with the honors you have already got, you greedy +man?" he said, laying his hand affectionately on Mr. Ogilvy, who only +sighed for reply. + +"It is well that the prize should go to different localities, for in +that way its sphere of usefulness is extended," remarked pompous Mr. +Gloag, who could be impartial, as there was no candidate from Noran +Side. He was a minister much in request for church soirees, where he +amused the congregations so greatly with personal anecdote about himself +that they never thought much of him afterwards. There is one such +minister in every presbytery. + +"And to have carried the Hugh Blackadder seven times running is surely +enough for any one locality, even though it be Glenquharity," said Mr. +Lorrimer, preparing for defeat. + +"There's consolation for you, sir," said Mr. Cathro, sarcastically, to +his rival, who tried to take snuff in sheer bravado, but let it slip +through his fingers, and after that, until the two hours were up, the +talk was chiefly of how Tommy would get on at Aberdeen. But it was +confined to the four ministers and one dominie. Mr. Ogilvy still hovered +about the door of communication, and his face fell more and more, making +Mr. Dishart quite unhappy. + +"I'm an old fool," the Dominie admitted, "but I can't help being cast +down. The fact is that--I have only heard the scrape of one pen for +nearly an hour." + +"Poor Lauchlan!" exclaimed Mr. Cathro, rubbing his hands gleefully, and +indeed it was such a shameless exhibition that the Auld Licht minister +said reproachfully, "You forget yourself, Mr. Cathro, let us not be +unseemly exalted in the hour of our triumph." + +Then Mr. Cathro sat upon his hands as the best way of keeping them +apart, but the moment Mr. Dishart's back presented itself, he winked at +Mr. Ogilvy. He winked a good deal more presently. For after all--how to +tell it! Tommy was ignominiously beaten, making such a beggarly show +that the judges thought it unnecessary to take the essays home with them +for leisurely consideration before pronouncing Mr. Lauchlan McLauchlan +winner. There was quite a commotion in the school-room. At the end of +the allotted time the two competitors had been told to hand in their +essays, and how Mr. McLauchlan was sniggering is not worth recording, so +dumfounded, confused, and raging was Tommy. He clung to his papers, +crying fiercely that the two hours could not be up yet, and Lauchlan +having tried to keep the laugh in too long it exploded in his mouth, +whereupon, said he, with a guffaw, "He hasna written a word for near an +hour!" + +"What! It was you I heard!" cried Mr. Ogilvy gleaming, while the unhappy +Cathro tore the essay from Tommy's hands. Essay! It was no more an essay +than a twig is a tree, for the gowk had stuck in the middle of his +second page. Yes, stuck is the right expression, as his chagrined +teacher had to admit when the boy was cross-examined. He had not been +"up to some of his tricks," he had stuck, and his explanations, as you +will admit, merely emphasized his incapacity. + +He had brought himself to public scorn for lack of a word. What word? +they asked testily, but even now he could not tell. He had wanted a +Scotch word that would signify how many people were in church, and it +was on the tip of his tongue but would come no farther. Puckle was +nearly the word, but it did not mean so many people as he meant. The +hour had gone by just like winking; he had forgotten all about time +while searching his mind for the word. + +When Mr. Ogilvy heard this he seemed to be much impressed, repeatedly he +nodded his head as some beat time to music, and he muttered to himself, +"The right word--yes, that's everything," and "'the time went by like +winking'--exactly, precisely," and he would have liked to examine +Tommy's bumps, but did not, nor said a word aloud, for was he not there +in McLauchlan's interest? + +The other five were furious; even Mr. Lorrimer, though his man had won, +could not smile in face of such imbecility. "You little tattie doolie," +Cathro roared, "were there not a dozen words to wile from if you had an +ill-will to puckle? What ailed you at manzy, or--" + +"I thought of manzy," replied Tommy, woefully, for he was ashamed of +himself, "but--but a manse's a swarm. It would mean that the folk in the +kirk were buzzing thegither like bees, instead of sitting still." + +"Even if it does mean that," said Mr. Duthie, with impatience, "what was +the need of being so particular? Surely the art of essay-writing +consists in using the first word that comes and hurrying on." + +"That's how I did," said the proud McLauchlan, who is now leader of a +party in the church, and a figure in Edinburgh during the month of May. + +"I see," interposed Mr. Gloag, "that McLauchlan speaks of there being a +mask of people in the church. Mask is a fine Scotch word." + +"Admirable," assented Mr. Dishart. "I thought of mask," whimpered Tommy, +"but that would mean the kirk was crammed, and I just meant it to be +middling full." + +"Flow would have done," suggested Mr. Lorrimer. + +"Flow's but a handful," said Tommy. + +"Curran, then, you jackanapes!" + +"Curran's no enough." + +Mr. Lorrimer flung up his hands in despair. + +"I wanted something between curran and mask," said Tommy, dogged, yet +almost at the crying. + +Mr. Ogilvy, who had been hiding his admiration with difficulty, spread a +net for him. "You said you wanted a word that meant middling full. Well, +why did you not say middling full--or fell mask?" + +"Yes, why not?" demanded the ministers, unconsciously caught in the net. + +"I wanted one word," replied Tommy, unconsciously avoiding it. + +"You jewel!" muttered Mr. Ogilvy under his breath, but Mr. Cathro would +have banged the boy's head had not the ministers interfered. + +"It is so easy, too, to find the right word," said Mr. Gloag. + +"It's no; it's as difficult as to hit a squirrel," cried Tommy, and +again Mr. Ogilvy nodded approval. + +But the ministers were only pained. + +"The lad is merely a numskull," said Mr. Dishart, kindly. + +"And no teacher could have turned him into anything else," said Mr. +Duthie. + +"And so, Cathro, you need not feel sore over your defeat," added Mr. +Gloag; but nevertheless Cathro took Tommy by the neck and ran him out of +the parish school of Thrums. When he returned to the others he found the +ministers congratulating McLauchlan, whose nose was in the air, and +complimenting Mr. Ogilvy, who listened to their formal phrases solemnly +and accepted their hand-shakes with a dry chuckle. + +"Ay, grin away, sir," the mortified dominie of Thrums said to him +sourly, "the joke is on your side." + +"You are right, sir," replied Mr. Ogilvy, mysteriously, "the joke is on +my side, and the best of it is that not one of you knows what the joke +is!" + +And then an odd thing happened. As they were preparing to leave the +school, the door opened a little and there appeared in the aperture the +face of Tommy, tear-stained but excited. "I ken the word now," he cried, +"it came to me a' at once; it is hantle!" + +The door closed with a victorious bang, just in time to prevent Cathro-- + +"Oh, the sumph!" exclaimed Mr. Lauchlan McLauchlan, "as if it mattered +what the word is now!" + +And said Mr. Dishart, "Cathro, you had better tell Aaron Latta that the +sooner he sends this nincompoop to the herding the better." + +But Mr. Ogilvy giving his Lauchlan a push that nearly sent him +sprawling, said in an ecstasy to himself, "He _had_ to think of it till +he got it--and he got it. The laddie is a genius!" They were about to +tear up Tommy's essay, but he snatched it from them and put it in his +oxter pocket. "I am a collector of curiosities," he explained, "and this +paper may be worth money yet." + +"Well," said Cathro, savagely, "I have one satisfaction, I ran him out +of my school." + +"Who knows," replied Mr. Ogilvy, "but what you may be proud to dust a +chair for him when he comes back?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII + +THE END OF A BOYHOOD + + +Convinced of his own worthlessness, Tommy was sufficiently humble now, +but Aaron Latta, nevertheless, marched to the square on the following +market day and came back with the boy's sentence, Elspeth being happily +absent. + +"I say nothing about the disgrace you have brought on this house," the +warper began without emotion, "for it has been a shamed house since +afore you were born, and it's a small offence to skail on a clarty +floor. But now I've done more for you than I promised Jean Myles to do, +and you had your pick atween college and the herding, and the herding +you've chosen twice. I call you no names, you ken best what you're +fitted for, but I've seen the farmer of the Dubb of Prosen the day, and +he was short-handed through the loss of Tod Lindertis, so you're fee'd +to him. Dinna think you get Tod's place, it'll be years afore you rise +to that, but it's right and proper that as he steps up, you should step +down." + +"The Dubb of Prosen!" cried Tommy in dismay. "It's fifteen miles frae +here." + +"It's a' that." + +"But--but--but Elspeth and me never thought of my being so far away that +she couldna see me. We thought of a farmer near Thrums." + +"The farther you're frae her the better," said Aaron, uneasily, yet +honestly believing what he said. + +"It'll kill her," Tommy cried fiercely. With only his own suffering to +consider he would probably have nursed it into a play through which he +stalked as the noble child of misfortune, but in his anxiety for Elspeth +he could still forget himself. "Fine you ken she canna do without me," +he screamed. + +"She maun be weaned," replied the warper, with a show of temper; he was +convinced that the sooner Elspeth learned to do without Tommy the better +it would be for herself in the end, but in his way of regarding the boy +there was also a touch of jealousy, pathetic rather than forbidding. To +him he left the task of breaking the news to Elspeth; and Tommy, +terrified lest she should swoon under it, was almost offended when she +remained calm. But, alas, the reason was that she thought she was going +with him. + +"Will we have to walk all the way to the Dubb of Prosen?" she asked, +quite brightly, and at that Tommy twisted about in misery. "You are +no--you canna--" he began, and then dodged the telling. "We--we may get +a lift in a cart," he said weakly. + +"And I'll sit aside you in the fields, and make chains o' the gowans, +will I no? Speak, Tommy!" + +"Ay--ay, will you," he groaned. + +"And we'll have a wee, wee room to oursels, and--" + +He broke down, "Oh, Elspeth," he cried, "it was ill-done of me no to +stick to my books, and get a bursary, and it was waur o' me to bother +about that word. I'm a scoundrel, I am, I'm a black, I'm a--" + +But she put her hand on his mouth, saying, "I'm fonder o' you than ever, +Tommy, and I'll like the Dubb o' Prosen fine, and what does it matter +where we are when we're thegither?" which was poor comfort for him, but +still he could not tell her the truth, and so in the end Aaron had to +tell her. It struck her down, and the doctor had to be called in during +the night to stop her hysterics. When at last she fell asleep Tommy's +arm was beneath her, and by and by it was in agony, but he set his teeth +and kept it there rather than risk waking her. + +When Tommy was out of the way, Aaron did his clumsy best to soothe her, +sometimes half shamefacedly pressing her cheek to his, and she did not +repel him, but there was no response. "Dinna take on in that way, +dawtie," he would say, "I'll be good to you." + +"But you're no Tommy," Elspeth answered. + +"I'm not, I'm but a stunted tree, blasted in my youth, but for a' that I +would like to have somebody to care for me, and there's none to do't, +Elspeth, if you winna. I'll gang walks wi' you, I'll take you to the +fishing, I'll come to the garret at night to hap you up, I'll--I'll +teach you the games I used to play mysel'. I'm no sure but what you +might make something o' me yet, bairn, if you tried hard." + +"But you're no Tommy," Elspeth wailed again, and when he advised her to +put Tommy out of her mind for a little and speak of other things, she +only answered innocently, "What else is there to speak about?" + +Mr. McLean had sent Tommy a pound, and so was done with him, but Ailie +still thought him a dear, though no longer a wonder, and Elspeth took a +strange confession to her, how one night she was so angry with God that +she had gone to bed without saying her prayers. She had just meant to +keep Him in suspense for a little, and then say them, but she fell +asleep. And that was not the worst, for when she woke in the morning, +and saw that she was still living, she was glad she had not said them. +But next night she said them twice. + +And this, too, is another flash into her dark character. Tommy, who +never missed saying his prayers and could say them with surprising +quickness, told her, "God is fonder of lonely lassies than of any other +kind, and every time you greet it makes Him greet, and when you're +cheerful it makes Him cheerful too." This was meant to dry her eyes, but +it had not that effect, for, said Elspeth, vindictively, "Well, then, +I'll just make Him as miserable as I can." + +When Tommy was merely concerned with his own affairs he did not think +much about God, but he knew that no other could console Elspeth, and his +love for her usually told him the right things to say, and while he said +them, he was quite carried away by his sentiments and even wept over +them, but within the hour he might be leering. They were beautiful, and +were repeated of course to Mrs. McLean, who told her husband of them, +declaring that this boy's love for his sister made her a better woman. + +"But nevertheless," said Ivie, "Mr. Cathro assures me--" + +"He is prejudiced," retorted Mrs. McLean warmly, prejudice being a +failing which all women marvel at. "Just listen to what the boy said to +Elspeth to-day. He said to her, 'When I am away, try for a whole day to +be better than you ever were before, and think of nothing else, and then +when prayer-time comes you will see that you have been happy without +knowing it.' Fancy his finding out that." + +"I wonder if he ever tried it himself?" said Mr. McLean. + +"Ivie, think shame of yourself!" + +"Well, even Cathro admits that he has a kind of cleverness, but--" + +"Cleverness!" exclaimed Ailie, indignantly, "that is not cleverness, it +is holiness;" and leaving the cynic she sought Elspeth, and did her good +by pointing out that a girl who had such a brother should try to save +him pain. "He is very miserable, dear," she said, "because you are so +unhappy. If you looked brighter, think how that would help him, and it +would show that you are worthy of him." So Elspeth went home trying hard +to look brighter, but made a sad mess of it. + +"Think of getting letters frae me every time the post comes in!" said +Tommy, and then indeed her face shone. + +And then Elspeth could write to him--yes, as often as ever she liked! +This pleased her even more. It was such an exquisite thought that she +could not wait, but wrote the first one before he started, and he +answered it across the table. And Mrs. McLean made a letter bag, with +two strings to it, and showed her how to carry it about with her in a +safer place than a pocket. + +Then a cheering thing occurred. Came Corp, with the astounding news +that, in the Glenquharity dominie's opinion, Tommy should have got the +Hugh Blackadder. + +"He says he is glad he wasna judge, because he would have had to give +you the prize, and he laughs like to split at the ministers for giving +it to Lauchlan McLauchlan." + +Now, great was the repute of Mr. Ogilvy, and Tommy gaped incredulous. +"He had no word of that at the time," he said. + +"No likely! He says if the ministers was so doited as to think his loon +did best, it wasna for him to conter them." + +"Man, Corp, you ca'me me aff my feet! How do you ken this?" + +Corp had promised not to tell, and he thought he did not tell, but Tommy +was too clever for him. Grizel, it appeared, had heard Mr. Ogilvy saying +this strange thing to the doctor, and she burned to pass it on to Tommy, +but she could not carry it to him herself, because--Why was it? Oh, yes, +because she hated him. So she made a messenger of Corp, and warned him +against telling who had sent him with the news. + +Half enlightened, Tommy began to strut again. "You see there's something +in me for all they say," he told Elspeth. "Listen to this. At the +bursary examinations there was some English we had to turn into Latin, +and it said, 'No man ever attained supreme eminence who worked for mere +lucre; such efforts must ever be bounded by base mediocrity. None shall +climb high but he who climbs for love, for in truth where the heart is, +there alone shall the treasure be found.' Elspeth, it came ower me in a +clink how true that was, and I sat saying it to myself, though I saw Gav +Dishart and Willie Simpson and the rest beginning to put it into Latin +at once, as little ta'en up wi' the words as if they had been about auld +Hannibal. I aye kent, Elspeth, that I could never do much at the +learning, but I didna see the reason till I read that. Syne I kent that +playing so real-like in the Den, and telling about my fits when it wasna +me that had them but Corp, and mourning for Lewis Doig's father, and +writing letters for folk so grandly, and a' my other queer ploys that +ended in Cathro's calling me Sentimental Tommy, was what my heart was +in, and I saw in a jiffy that if thae things were work, I should soon +rise to supreme eminence." + +"But they're no," said Elspeth, sadly. + +"No," he admitted, his face falling, "but, Elspeth, if I was to hear +some day of work I could put my heart into as if it were a game! I +wouldna be laug in finding the treasure syne. Oh, the blatter I would +make!" + +"I doubt there's no sic work," she answered, but he told her not to be +so sure. "I thought there wasna mysel'," he said, "till now, but sure as +death my heart was as ta'en up wi' hunting for the right word as if it +had been a game, and that was how the time slipped by so quick. Yet it +was paying work, for the way I did it made Mr. Ogilvy see I should have +got the prize, and a' body kens there's more cleverness in him than in +a cart-load o' ministers." + +"But, but there are no more Hugh Blackadders to try for, Tommy?" + +"That's nothing, there maun be other work o' the same kind. Elspeth, +cheer up, I tell you, I'll find a wy!" + +"But you didna ken yoursel' that you should have got the Hugh +Blackadder?" + +He would not let this depress him. "I ken now," he said. Nevertheless, +why he should have got it was a mystery which he longed to fathom. Mr. +Ogilvy had returned to Glenquharity, so that an explanation could not be +drawn from him even if he were willing to supply it, which was +improbable; but Tommy caught Grizel in the Banker's Close and compelled +her to speak. + +"I won't tell you a word of what Mr. Ogilvy said," she insisted, in her +obstinate way, and, oh, how she despised Corp for breaking his promise. + +"Corp didna ken he telled me," said Tommy, less to clear Corp than to +exalt himself, "I wriggled it out o' him;" but even this did not bring +Grizel to a proper frame of mind, so he said, to annoy her, + +"At any rate you're fond o' me." + +"I am not," she replied, stamping; "I think you are horrid." + +"What else made you send Corp to me?" + +"I did that because I heard you were calling yourself a blockhead." + +"Oho," said he, "so you have been speiring about me though you winna +speak to me!" + +Grizel looked alarmed, and thinking to weaken his case, said, hastily, +"I very nearly kept it from you, I said often to myself 'I won't tell +him.'" + +"So you have been thinking a lot about me!" was his prompt comment. + +"If I have," she retorted, "I did not think nice things. And what is +more, I was angry with myself for telling Corp to tell you." + +Surely this was crushing, but apparently Tommy did not think so, for he +said, "You did it against your will! That means I hare a power over you +that you canna resist. Oho, oho!" + +Had she become more friendly so should he, had she shed one tear he +would have melted immediately; but she only looked him up and down +disdainfully, and it hardened him. He said with a leer, "I ken what +makes you hold your hands so tight, it's to keep your arms frae +wagging;" and then her cry, "How do you know?" convicted her. He had not +succeeded in his mission, but on his way home he muttered, triumphantly, +"I did her, I did her!" and once he stopped to ask himself the question, +"Was it because my heart was in it?" It was their last meeting till they +were man and woman. + + * * * * * + +A blazing sun had come out on top of heavy showers, and the land reeked +and smelled as of the wash-tub. The smaller girls of Monypenny were +sitting in passages playing at fivey, just as Sappho for instance used +to play it; but they heard the Dubb of Prosen cart draw up at Aaron +Latta's door, and they followed it to see the last of Tommy Sandys. Corp +was already there, calling in at the door every time he heard a sob; +"Dinna, Elspeth, dinna, he'll find a wy," but Grizel had refused to +come, though Tommy knew that she had been asking when he started and +which road the cart would take. Well, he was not giving her a thought at +any rate; his box was in the cart now, and his face was streaked with +tears that were all for Elspeth. She should not have come to the door, +but she came, and--it was such a pitiable sight that Aaron Latta could +not look on. He went hurriedly to his workshop, but not to warp, and +even the carter was touched and he said to Tommy, "I tell you what, man, +I have to go round by Causeway End smiddy, and you and the crittur have +time, if you like, to take the short cut and meet me at the far corner +o' Caddam wood." + +So Tommy and Elspeth, holding each other's hands, took the short cut and +they came to the far end of Caddam, and Elspeth thought they had better +say it here before the cart came; but Tommy said he would walk back with +her through the wood as far as the Toom Well, and they could say it +there. They tried to say it at the Well, but--Elspeth was still with him +when he returned to the far corner of Caddam, where the cart was now +awaiting him. The carter was sitting on the shaft, and he told them he +was in no hurry, and what is more, he had the delicacy to turn his back +on them and struck his horse with the reins for looking round at the +sorrowful pair. They should have said it now, but first Tommy walked +back a little bit of the way with Elspeth, and then she came back with +him, and that was to be the last time, but he could not leave her, and +so, there they were in the wood, looking woefully at each other, and it +was not said yet. + +They had said it now, and all was over; they were several paces apart. +Elspeth smiled, she had promised to smile because Tommy said it would +kill him if she was greeting at the very end. But what a smile it was! +Tommy whistled, he had promised to whistle to show that he was happy as +long as Elspeth could smile. She stood still, but he went on, turning +round every few yards to--to whistle. "Never forget, day nor night, what +I said to you," he called to her. "You're the only one I love, and I +care not a hair for Grizel." + +But when he disappeared, shouting to her, "I'll find a wy, I'll find a +wy," she screamed and ran after him. He was already in the cart, and it +had started. He stood up in it and waved his hand to her, and she stood +on the dyke and waved to him, and thus they stood waving till a hollow +in the road swallowed cart and man and boy. Then Elspeth put her hands +to her eyes and went sobbing homeward. + +When she was gone, a girl who had heard all that passed between them +rose from among the broom of Caddam and took Elspeth's place on the +dyke, where she stood motionless waiting for the cart to reappear as it +climbed the other side of the hollow. She wore a black frock and a blue +bonnet with white strings, but the cart was far away, and Tommy thought +she was Elspeth, and springing to his feet again in the cart he waved +and waved. At first she did not respond, for had she not heard him say, +"You're the only one I love, and I care not a hair for Grizel?" And she +knew he was mistaking her for Elspeth. But by and by it struck her that +he would be more unhappy if he thought Elspeth was too overcome by grief +to wave to him. Her arms rocked passionately; no, no, she would not lift +them to wave to him, he could be as unhappy as he chose. Then in a +spirit of self-abnegation that surely raised her high among the +daughters of men, though she was but a painted lady's child, she waved +to him to save him pain, and he, still erect in the cart, waved back +until nothing could be seen by either of them save wood and fields and a +long, deserted road. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Sentimental Tommy, by J. M. 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