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diff --git a/21227.txt b/21227.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7597352 --- /dev/null +++ b/21227.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7443 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Shenac's Work at Home, by Margaret Murray Robertson + +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: Shenac's Work at Home + +Author: Margaret Murray Robertson + +Release Date: April 27, 2007 [EBook #21227] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHENAC'S WORK AT HOME *** + + + + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + + + + +Shenac's Work at Home + +By Margaret Murray Robertson +________________________________________________________________________ + +________________________________________________________________________ +SHENAC'S WORK AT HOME + +BY MARGARET MURRAY ROBERTSON + + + +CHAPTER ONE. + +A long time ago, something very sad happened in one of the districts of +Scotland. I cannot tell you how it all came about, but a great many +people were obliged to leave their homes where they and their +forefathers had lived for many generations. A few scattered themselves +through other parts of the country; a few went to the great towns to +seek for a livelihood; but by far the greater number made up their minds +to leave for ever the land of their birth, and rose in the new, strange +world beyond the sea a home for themselves and their children. + +I could never make you understand what a sorrowful time that was to +these poor people, or how much they suffered in going away. For some of +the old left children behind them, and some of the young left their +parents, or brothers, or sisters; and all left the homes where they had +lived through happy years, the kirks where they had worshipped God +together, and the kirkyards where lay the dust of the dear ones they had +lost. + +And, besides all this, they knew little of the land to which they were +going, and between them and it lay the great ocean, with all its +terrors. For then they did not count by days, as we do now, the time +that it took to cross the sea, but by weeks, or even by months; and many +a timid mother shrank from the thought of all her children might have to +suffer ere the sea was passed. Even more than the knowledge of the many +difficulties and discouragements which might await them beyond it, did +the thought of the dangers of the sea appal them. And to all their +other sorrows was added the bitter pain of saying farewell for ever and +for ever to Scotland, their native land. It is true that not among all +her hills or valleys, or in all her great and prosperous towns, could be +found room for them and theirs; it is true that a home in the beloved +land was denied them: but it was their native land all the same, and +eyes that had refused to weep at the last look of dear faces left +behind, grew dim with tears as the broken outline of Scotland's hills +faded away in the darkness. + +But out of very sorrowful events God oftentimes causes much happiness to +spring; and it was so to these poor people in their banishment. Into +the wide Canadian forests they came, and soon the wilderness and the +solitary place were glad for them; soon the wild woods were made to +rejoice with the sound of joyful voices ringing out from many a happy +though humble home. And though there were those among the aged or the +discontented who never ceased to pine for the heather hills of the old +land, the young grew up strong and content, troubled by no fear that, +for many and many a year to come, the place would become too strait for +them or for their children. + +They did not speak English these people, but a language called Gaelic, +not at all agreeable to English ears, but very dear to the heart of the +Scottish Highlander. It is passing somewhat out of use now; but even at +this day I have heard of old people who will go many miles to hear a +sermon preached in that language--the precious gospel itself seeming +clearer and richer and more full of comfort coming to them in the +language which they learned at their mother's knee. + +"It was surely the language first spoken on earth, before the beguiling +serpent came to our mother," once said an old man to me; "and maybe +afterwards too, till the foolish men on the plain of Shinar brought +Babel on the earth. And indeed it may be the language spoken in heaven +to-day, so sweet and grand and fit for the expression of high and holy +thoughts is it." + +It is passing out of use now, however, even among the Highlanders +themselves. Gaelic is the household language still, where the father +and mother are old, or where the grand-parents live with the rising +generation; but English is the language of business, of the newspapers, +and of all the new books that find their way among the people. It is +fast becoming the language in which public worship is conducted too. +There are very few books in the Gaelic. There are the Bible and the +Catechism, and some poems which they who understand them say are very +grand and beautiful; and there are a few translations of religious +books, such as "The Pilgrim's Progress," and some of the works of such +writers as Flavel and Baxter. But though there are not many, they are +of a kind which, read often and earnestly, cannot fail to bring wisdom; +and a grave and thoughtful people were they who made their homes in this +wilderness. + +Among those who were most earnest in overcoming the difficulties which +at every step meet the settler in a new country were two brothers, Angus +and Evan MacIvor. Their farms lay next to each other. They were +fortunate in securing good land, and they were moderately successful in +clearing and cultivating it. They lived to a good old age, and the +youngest son of each succeeded him in the possession of the land. It is +about the families of these two sons that my story is to be told. + +The two cousins bore the same name, Angus MacIvor; but they were not at +all alike either in appearance or character. The one was fair, with +light hair and bright blue eyes; and because of this he was called Angus +Bhan, or Angus the fair, to distinguish him from his cousin, who was +very dark. He had a frank, open face and kind manner; and if anyone in +the neighbourhood wanted a favour done, his first thought was sure to be +of Angus Bhan. + +His cousin Angus Dhu, or Angus the black, had a good reputation among +people in general. He was honest and upright in his dealings, his word +could be relied on; but his temper was uncertain, and his neighbours +called him "close," and few of them would have thought of looking to +Angus Dhu when they wanted a helping hand. + +When these two began life they were very much in the same circumstances. +Their farms were alike as to the quality of the soil and as to the +number of acres cleared and under cultivation. They were both free from +debt, both strong men accustomed to farm-work, and both, in the opinion +of their neighbours, had a fair chance of becoming rich, according to +the idea of wealth entertained by these people. + +But when twenty years had passed away the affairs of the two men stood +very differently. Angus Dhu had more than realised the expectations of +his neighbours. He was rich--richer even than his neighbours supposed. +More than half of his farm of two hundred acres was cleared and under +cultivation. It was well stocked, well tilled, and very productive. +Near the site of the log-house built by his father stood a comfortable +farm-house of stone. All this his neighbours saw, and called him a +prosperous man; and now and then they speculated together as to the +amount of bank-stock to which he might justly lay claim. + +The world had not gone so well with Angus Bhan. There was not so much +land under cultivation, neither was what he had so well cultivated as +his cousin's. He had built a new house too, but he had been unfortunate +as to the time chosen to build. Materials were dear, and a bad harvest +or two put him sadly back in the world. He was obliged to run into +debt, and the interest of the money borrowed from his cousin was an +additional burden. He was not successful in the rearing of stock, and +some heavy losses of cattle fell on him. Worse than all, his health +began to fail, for then his courage failed too; and when there came to +that part of the country rumours of wonderful discoveries of the +precious metals in the western parts of the continent, he only faintly +withstood the entreaties of his eldest son that he might be permitted to +go away and search for gold among the mountains of California. His +going away nearly broke his mother's heart; and some among the +neighbours said it would have been far wiser for young Allister to stay +at home and help his father to plough and sow and gather in the harvest, +than to go so far and suffer so much for gold, which might be slow in +coming, and which must be quick in going should sickness overtake him in +the land of strangers. But the young are always hopeful, and Allister +was sure of success; and he comforted his mother by telling her that in +two or three years at most he could earn money enough to pay his +father's debt to Angus Dhu, and then he would come home again, and they +would all live happily together as before. So Allister went away, and +left a sorrowful household behind. + +And there was another sorrowful household in Glengarry about that time. +There was only _sorrow_ in the hearts of Angus Bhan and his wife when +their first-born son went away; for he went with their consent, and +carried their blessing with him. But there were sorrow and bitter anger +in the heart of Angus Dhu when he came to know that his son had also +gone away. He was not a man of many words, and he said little to anyone +about his son; but in his heart he believed that he had been beguiled +away by the son of Angus Bhan, and bitter resentment rose within him at +the thought. + +A few months passed away, and there came a letter from Allister, written +soon after his arrival in California. His cousin Evan Dhu was with him. +They had done nothing to earn money as yet, but they were in high +spirits, and full of hope that they would do great things. This letter +gave much comfort to them all; but it was a long time before they heard +from the wanderers again. + +In the meantime the affairs of Angus Bhan did not grow more prosperous. +It became more and more difficult for him to pay the interest of his +debt; and though his cousin seldom alluded in words to his obligation, +he knew quite well that he would not abate a penny either of principal +or interest when the time of payment came. + +A year passed away. No more letters came from Allister, and his +father's courage grew fainter and fainter. There seemed little hope of +his ever being able to pay his debt; and so, when Angus Dhu asked him to +sell a part of his farm to him, he went home with a heavy heart to +consult his wife about it. They agreed that something must be done at +once; and so it was arranged that if Allister was not heard from, or if +some other means of paying at least the interest did not offer before +the spring, the hundred acres of their land that lay next to the farm of +Angus Dhu should be given up to him. It was sad enough to have to do +this; but Angus Bhan said to his wife,-- + +"If anything were to happen to me, you and the children would be far +better with half the land free from debt, than with all burdened as it +must be till Allister comes home." + +They did not say much to each other, but their hearts were very sore-- +his, that he must give up the land left to him by his father; hers, for +his sake, and also for the sake of her first-born son, a wanderer far +away. + +That autumn, when the harvest was over, the second son, Lewis, set off +with some young men of the place to join a company of lumberers, who +were, as is their custom, to pass the winter in the woods. It was a +time of great prosperity with lumber-merchants then, and good wages +could be earned in their service. There was nothing to be done at home +in the winter which his father, with the help of the younger children, +could not do; and Lewis, who was eighteen, was eager to earn money to +help at home, and eager also to enter into the new and, as he thought, +the merry life in the woods. So Lewis went away, and there were left at +home Hamish and Shenac, who were twins, Dan, Hugh, Colin, and little +Flora, the youngest and dearest of them all. The anxieties of the +parents were not suffered to sadden the lives of the children, and the +little MacIvors Bhan were as merry young people as one could wish to +see. + +Though they were not so prosperous, they were a far happier household +than the MacIvors Dhu. There was the same number of children in each +family; but Angus Dhu's children were most of them older than their +cousins, and while Angus Bhan had six sons and two daughters, Angus Dhu +had six daughters and two sons. "His cousin should have been a far +richer man than he, with so many sons," Angus Dhu used to say grimly. +But three of the boys of Angus Bhan were only children still, and one of +them was a cripple. And as for the daughters of Angus Dhu, they had +been as good as sons even for the farm-work, labouring in the fields, as +is the custom for young women in this part of the country, as +industriously and as efficiently as men--far more so, indeed, than their +own brother Evan did; for he was often impatient of the closeness with +which his father kept them all at work, and it was this, quite as much +as his love of adventure and his wish to see the world, that made him go +away at last. The two eldest daughters were married, and the third was +living away from home; so, after Evan left, there were four in their +father's house--three girls and Dan, the youngest of the family, who was +twelve years of age. The children of these two families had always been +good friends. Indeed, the younger children of Angus Dhu had more +pleasure in the house of their father's cousin than in their own home; +and many a winter evening they were in the habit of passing there. + +They had a very quiet winter after Lewis went away. There was less +visiting and going about in the moonlight evenings than ever before; for +the boys were all too young to go with them except Hamish, and he was a +cripple, and not so well as usual this winter, and though the girls were +quite able to take care of themselves, they had little pleasure in going +alone. So Angus Dhu's girls used to take their knitting and their +sewing to the other house, and they all amused themselves in the +innocent, old-fashioned ways of that time. + +Shenac seldom went to visit her cousins; for, besides the fact that her +father's house was the pleasantest meeting-place, her brother Hamish +could not often go out at night, and she would rarely consent to leave +him; and no one added so much to the general amusement as Hamish. He +was very skilful at making puzzles and at all sorts of arithmetical +questions, and not one of them could sing so many songs or tell so many +stories as he. He was very merry and sweet-tempered too. His being a +cripple, and different from all the rest, had not made him peevish and +difficult to deal with as such misfortunes are so apt to do, and there +was no one in all the world that Shenac loved so well as her +twin-brother Hamish. + +I suppose I ought to describe Shenac more particularly, as my story is +to be more about her than any of the other MacIvors. A good many years +after the time of which I am now writing; I heard Shenac MacIvor--or, as +English lips made it, Jane MacIvor--spoken of as a very beautiful woman +(the Gaelic spelling is Sinec); but at this time I do not think it ever +came into the mind of anybody to think whether she was beautiful or not. +She had one attribute of beauty--perfect health. There never bloomed +among the Scottish hills, which her father and mother only just +remembered, roses and lilies more fresh and fair than bloomed on the +happy face of Shenac, and her curls of golden brown were the admiration +and envy of her dark haired cousins. They called little Flora a beauty, +and a rose, and a precious darling; but of Shenac they said she was +bright and good, and very helpful for a girl of her age; and her brother +Hamish thought her the best girl in the world--indeed, quite without a +fault, which was very far from being true. + +For Shenac had plenty of faults. She had a quick, hot temper, which, +when roused, caused her to say many things which she ought not to have +said. Hamish thought all those sharp words were quite atoned for by +Shenac's quick and earnest repentance, but there is a sense in which it +is true that hasty and unkind words can never be unsaid. + +Shenac liked her own way too in all things. This did not often make +trouble, however; for she had learned her mother's household ways, and, +indeed, had wonderful taste and talent for these matters. Being the +only daughter of the house, except little Flora, and her mother not +being very strong, Shenac had less to do in the fields than her cousins, +and was busy and happy in the house, except in harvest-time, when even +the little lads, her brothers, were expected to do their part there. + +Hamish and Shenac were very much alike, as twins very often are--that +is, they were both fair, and had the same-coloured hair and eyes. But, +while Shenac was rosy and strong, the very picture of health, her +brother was thin and pale, and often of late there had been a look of +pain on his face that it made his mother's heart ache to see. They were +all in all to each other--Shenac and Hamish. They missed Lewis less on +this account, and they knew very little of the troubles that so often +made their father and mother anxious; and the first months of winter +passed happily over them after Lewis went away. + +Christmas passed, and the new year came in. A few more pleasant weeks +went by, and then there came terrible tidings to the house of Angus +Bhan. Far away, on one of the rapids of the Grand River, a boat had +been overturned. Three young men had been lost under the ice. The body +of one had been recovered: it was the body of Lewis MacIvor. + +"We should be thankful that we can at least bring him home," said Angus +Bhan to his wife, while she made preparations for his sad journey. But +he said it with very pale, trembling lips, and his wife struggled to +restrain the great burst of weeping that threatened to have way, that he +might have the comfort of thinking that she was bearing her trouble +well. But when she was left alone all these sad days of waiting, she +was ready to say, in the bitterness of her heart, that there was no +sorrow like her sorrow. One son was a wanderer, another was dead, and +on the face of the dearly-beloved Hamish was settling the look of +habitual suffering, so painful to see. Her cup of sorrow was full to +the brim, she declared, but she knew not what she said. + +For, when a few days had passed, there were brought home for burial two +dead bodies instead of one. Her husband was no more. He had nearly +accomplished his sorrowful errand, when death overtook him. He had +complained to the friend who was with him of feeling cold, and had left +the sleigh to walk a mile or two to warm himself. They waited in vain +for him at the next resting-place, and when they went back to look for +him they found him lying with his face in the snow, quite dead. He had +not died from cold, the doctor said, but from heart-disease, and +probably without suffering; and this comfort the bereaved widow tried to +take to herself. + +But her cup of sorrow was not full yet. The very night before the +burial was to be, the house caught fire and burned to the ground. It +was with difficulty that the few neighbours who gathered in time to help +could save the closed coffins from the flames; and it seemed a small +matter, at the time, that nearly all their household stuff was lost. + +The mother's cup _did_ seem full now. I do not think that the coming of +any trouble, however great, could at this time have added to her grief. +She had striven to be submissive under the repeated strokes that had +fallen upon her, but the horrors of that night were too much for her, +weakened as she was by sorrow. For a time she was quite distracted, +heeding little the kind efforts of her neighbours to alleviate her +distress and the distress of her children. All that kind hearts and +willing hands could do was done for them. The log house which their +grandfather had built still stood. It was repaired, and filled with +gifts from every family in the neighbourhood, and the widow and her +children found refuge there. + +"Oh, what a sad beginning for a story!" I think some of my young +readers may say, in tones of disappointment. It is indeed a sad +beginning, but every sorrowful word is true. Every day there are just +such sorrowful events happening in the world, though it is not often +that trouble falls so heavily at once on any household. I might have +left all this out of my story; but then no one could have understood so +well the nature of the work that fell to Shenac, or have known the +difficulties she had to overcome in trying to do it well. + + + +CHAPTER TWO. + +It was May-day. Oftentimes in the northern country this month is +ushered in by drizzling rain, or even by the falling snow; but this year +brought a May-day worthy of the name--clear, mild, and balmy. There was +not a cloud in all the sky, nor wind enough to stir the catkins hanging +close over the waters of the creek. The last days of April had been +warm and bright, and there was a tender green on the low-lying fields, +and on the poplars that fringed the wood; and the boughs of the +maple-trees in the sugar-bush looked purple and brown over the great +grey trunks. + +There is never a May-day when some flowers cannot be found beneath these +trees, and in the warm hollows along the margin of the creek; but this +year there were more than a few. Besides the pale little "spring +flower," which hardly waits for the snow to go away before it shows +itself, there were daffodils and anemones and wake-robins, and from the +lapful which little Flora MacIvor sat holding on the bank close beside +the great willow peeped forth violets, blue and white. There were +lady-slippers too somewhere not far away, Flora was sure, if only Dan or +Hughie could be persuaded to look for them a little farther down the +creek, in the damp ground under the cedars, where she had promised her +mother she would not go. + +But the lads had something else to do than to look for flowers for +Flora. Down the creek, which was broad and full because of the melting +snow, a number of great cedar chips were floating. Past the +foot-bridge, and past the eddy by the great rock, and over the pool into +which the creek widened by the old ashery, the mimic fleet sailed +safely; while the lads shouted and ran, and strove by the help of long +sticks to pilot them all into the little cove by the willow where little +Flora was sitting, till even the flower-loving little maiden forgot her +treasures, and grew excited like the rest. + +You would never have thought, looking at those bright faces, that heavy +trouble had been in their home for months. Listening to their merry, +voices, you would never have imagined that there were, in some hearts +that loved them, grave doubts whether for the future they were to have a +home together or no. But so it was. + +Higher up the bank, where the old ashery used to stand, Shenac and +Hamish were sitting. The triumphant shout with which the last and +largest of the boats was landed, startled them out of the silence in +which they had been musing, and the girl said sadly,-- + +"Children forget so soon!" + +Hamish made no answer. He was not watching the little sailors. His +face was quite turned away from them, and looked gloomy and troubled +enough. The girl watched a moment anxiously; and then turning her eyes +where his had been for some time resting, she cried passionately,-- + +"I wish a fire would break out and burn it to ashes, every stick!" + +"What would be the good of that? Angus Dhu would put it all up again," +said Hamish bitterly. "He might save himself the trouble, though. He +means to have _all_ the land shortly." + +They were watching the progress of a fence of great cedar rails which +three or four men were building; and no wonder they watched it with +vexation, for it went from line to line, dividing in two parts the land +that had belonged to their father. He was dead now, and their brother +Allister was far away, they knew not where, in search of gold; and there +was no one now, besides themselves, except their mother, and the little +ones who were so thoughtless, making merry with the great cedar chips +which Angus Dhu sent, floating down the stream. + +"Nobody but you and me to do anything; and what can _we_ do?" continued +the lad with a desponding gesture. "And my mother scarcely seems to +care to try." + +"Whisht, Hamish dear; there's no wonder," said Shenac in a low voice. +"But about the land. Angus Dhu can never get it surely!" + +"He has gotten the half of it already. Who is to hinder his getting the +rest?" said Hamish. "And he might as well have it. What can _we_ do +with it?" + +"Was it wrong for him to take it, do you think, Hamish?" asked Shenac +gravely. + +"Not in law. Angus Dhu would never do what is unlawful. But he was +hard on my father, and he says--" + +Hamish paused to ask himself whether it was worth while to vex Shenac +with the unkind words of Angus Dhu. But Shenac would not be denied the +knowledge. + +"What was it, Hamish? He would never dare to say a light word of our +father. Did you not then and there show him the door?" + +Shenac's blue eye flashed. She was quite capable of doing that and more +to vindicate her father's memory. + +"Whisht, Shenac," said Hamish. "Angus Dhu loved my father, though he +was hard on him. There were tears in his eyes when he spoke to my +mother about him. But he says that the half of the land is justly his, +for money that my father borrowed at different times, and for the +interest which he could not pay. And he wants to buy the other half; +for he says we can never carry on the farm, and I am afraid he is +right," added the lad despondingly. + +"And what would become of us all?" asked Shenac, her cheeks growing pale +in the pain and surprise of the moment. + +"He would put out the money in such a way that it would bring an income +to my mother, who could live here still, with Colin and little Flora. +He says he will take Dan to keep till he is of age, and Elder McMillan +will take Hugh. You are old enough to do for yourself, he says; and as +for me--" He turned away, so that his sister might not see the working +of his face. But Shenac was thinking of something else, and did not +notice him. + +"But, Hamish, we have written to Allister, and he will be sure to come +home when he hears what has happened to us." + +Hamish shook his head. + +"Black Angus says Allister will never come back. He says he was an +unsettled lad before he went away. And, Shenac, he says our Allister +beguiled Evan, or he never would have left home. He looked black when +he said it. He was angry." + +Shenac's eyes blazed again. + +"Our Allister unsettled--he that went away for our father's sake, and +for us all! Our Allister to beguile Evan, that wild lad! And you sat +and heard him say it, Hamish!" + +"What else could I do?" said Hamish bitterly. + +"And my mother?" said Shenac. + +"She could only cry, and say that Allister had always been a good son to +her and to my father, and a dear brother to us all." + +There was a long pause. Shenac never removed her eyes from the men, who +were gradually drawing nearer and nearer, as one after another of the +great cedar rails was laid on the foundation of logs and stones already +prepared for them along the field; and anger gathered in her heart and +showed itself in her face as she gazed. Hamish had turned quite away +from the fence and from his sister, towards the creek where his brothers +were still shouting at their play. But he was not thinking of his +brothers; he did not see them, indeed. He made an effort to keep back +the tears, which, in spite of all he could do, would flow. If Shenac +had spoken to him, they must have gushed out; but he had time to force +them back before Shenac turned away with an angry gesture. + +"It's of no use, Shenac," he said then. "There's reason in what Angus +Dhu says. We will have to give up the farm." + +"Hamish, that shall never be done!" said Shenac. "It would break my +mother's heart." + +"It seems broken already," said Hamish hoarsely. "And it is easy to say +the land must be kept. But what can we do with it? Who is to work it?" + +"You and I and the little lads," cried Shenac. "There is no fear. God +will help us," she added reverently--"the widow and orphan's God. +Hamish, don't you mind?" + +Hamish had no voice with which to answer for a moment; but in a little +while he said with some difficulty,-- + +"It is easy for _you_ to say what you will do, Shenac--you who are +strong and well; but look at me! I am not getting stronger, as we +always hoped. What could I do at the plough? I had better go to some +town, as Angus Dhu advised my mother, and learn to make shoes." + +"Oh, but he's fine at making plans, that Angus Dhu," said Shenac +scornfully. "But we'll need to tell him that we're for none of his +help. Hamish," she added, suddenly stooping down over him, "do you +think any plan made to separate you and me will prosper? I think I see +black Angus coming between you and me with his plans." + +Her words and her caress were quite too much for Hamish, and he +surprised himself and her too by a sudden burst of tears. The sight of +this banished Shenac's softness in a moment. She raised herself from +her stooping posture with an angry cry. Separated from the rest of the +fence-makers, and approaching the knoll where the brother and sister +had, been sitting, were two men. One was Angus Dhu, and the other was +his friend, and a relation of his wife, Elder McMillan. He was a good +man, people said, but one who liked to move on with the current,--one +who went for peace at all risks, and so forgot sometimes that purity was +to be set before even peace. There was nothing in Shenac's knowledge of +the man to make her afraid of him, and she took three steps towards +them, and said,-- + +"Angus Dhu, do you mind what the Bible says of them that oppress the +widow and the fatherless? Have you forgotten the verse that says, +`Remove not the ancient land-mark'?" + +She stopped, as if waiting for an answer. The two men stood still from +sheer surprise, and looked at her. Shenac continued:-- + +"And do you mind what's said of them that add field to field? and--" + +"Shenac, my woman," said the elder at last, "it's no becoming in you to +speak in that kind of a way to one older than your father was. I doubt +you're forgetting--" + +But Shenac put his words aside with a gesture of indifference. + +"And to speak false words of our Allister to his mother in her trouble +as though he had led your wild lad Evan astray. You little know what +our Allister saved him from more than once. But that is not for to-day. +I have this to, say to you, Angus Dhu: you must be content with the +half you have gotten; for not another acre of my father's land shall +ever be yours, though all the elders in Glengarry stood at your back.--I +will not whisht, Hamish. He is to know that he is not to meddle between +my mother and me. It's not or the like of Angus Dhu to say that my +mother's children shall be taken from her in her trouble. Our affairs +may be bad enough, but they'll be none the better for your meddling in +them." + +"Shenac," entreated Hamish, "you'll be sorry for speaking that way to +our father's cousin." + +"Our father's oppressor rather," she insisted scornfully. But she had +said her say; and, besides, the lads and little Flora had heard their +voices, and were drawing near. + +"Children," said Shenac, "you are to come home. And mind, you are not +to set foot on this bank again without our mother's leave. It's Angus +Dhu's land now, he says, and not ours." + +The creek--that part of it near which the willows grew, and where the +old ashery used to stand--had been their daily resort every summer-day +all their lives; and they all looked at her with astonishment and +dismay, but none of them spoke. + +"Come home to our mother, boys.--Flora, come home." And Shenac lifted +her little sister over the foundation of great stones, and beckoned to +the boys to follow her. + +"Come, Hamish, it's time we were home." And Hamish obeyed her as +silently as the rest had done. + +"Hamish," said the elder, "speak here, man. You have some sense, and +tales such as yon wild girl is like to tell may do your father's cousin +much harm." + +In his heart Hamish knew Shenac to be foolish and wrong to speak as she +had done, but he was true to her all the same, and would hold no parley +with the enemy. So he gave no heed to the elder's words, but followed +the rest through the field. Shenac's steps grew slower as they +approached the house. + +"Hamish," she said a little shamefacedly, "there will be no use vexing +our mother by telling her all this." + +"That's true enough," said Hamish. + +"But mind, Hamish, I'm not sorry that I said it. I have aye meant to +say something to Angus Dhu about the land; though I daresay it would +have been as well to say it when that clattering body, Elder McMillan, +was out of hearing." + +"And John and Rory McLean," murmured Hamish. + +"Hamish, man, they never could have heard. Not that I am caring," +continued Shenac. "It's true that Angus Dhu has gotten half our +father's land, and that he is seeking the other half; but _that_ he'll +never get--_never_!" And she flashed an angry glance towards the spot +where the men were still standing. + +Hamish knew it was always best to leave his sister till her anger +cooled, so he said nothing in reply. He grieved for the loss of the +land as much as Shenac did, but he did not resent it like her. Though +he believed that Angus Dhu had been hard on his father, he did not +believe that he had dealt unjustly by him. And he was right. Even in +taking half the land he had taken only what he believed to be his due, +and in wishing to possess himself, of the rest, he believed he was about +to do a kindness to the widow and children of his dead cousin. He +believed they could never get their living from the land. They must +give it up, he thought; and it was far better that it should fall into +his hands than into the hands of a stranger. Had his cousin lived, he +would never have wished for the land; and he said to himself that he +would do much for them all, and that the widow and orphans should never +suffer while he could befriend them. + +At the same time, he could not deny that he would be glad to get the +land. When Evan came home, it might keep the lad near him to have this +farm ready for him. He had allowed himself to think a great deal about +this of late. He would not confess to himself that any part of the +uncomfortable feelings that Shenac's outbreak had stirred within him +sprang from disappointment. But he was mistaken. For when the girl +planted her foot on the other side of the new fence, and looked back at +him defiantly, he felt that she would make good her word, and hold the +land, at least, until Allister came home. + +He did not care much what the neighbours might say about him; but he +told Elder McMillan that he cared, and that doubtless yon wild girl +would have plenty: to say about things she did not understand, and that +she would get ill-minded folks enough to hearken to her and to urge her +on. And he tried to make himself believe that it was this, and nothing +else, that vexed him in the matter. + +"And what's to be done?" asked the elder uneasily, as Shenac and the +rest disappeared. + +"Done!" repeated his friend angrily. "_I_ shall do nought. If they can +go on by themselves, all the better. I shall be well pleased. Why +should I seek to have the land?" + +"Why, indeed?" said the elder. + +"I shall neither make nor meddle in their affairs, till I am asked to do +it," continued Angus Dhu; but the look on his face said, as plainly as +words could have done, "and it will not be very long before that will +happen." + +But he made a mistake, as even wise men will sometimes do. + + + +CHAPTER THREE. + +I am glad to say that Shenac did not let the sun go down on her wrath. +Indeed, long before sunset she was heartily ashamed of her outbreak +towards Angus Dhu, and acknowledged as much to Hamish. Not that she +believed he had acted justly and kindly in his past dealings with her +father; nor was she satisfied that the future interests of the family +would be safe in his hands. Even while acknowledging how wrong and +foolish she had been in speaking as she had done, she declared to Hamish +that Angus Dhu should neither "make nor meddle" in their affairs. They +must cling together, and do the best they could, till Allister should +come home, whatever Angus Dhu might say. + +That her mother might yield to persuasion on this point, she thought +possible; for the widow had lost courage, and saw only the darker side +of their affairs. But Shenac stoutly declared that day to Hamish that +no one should be suffered to persuade her mother to the breaking of her +heart. No one had a right to interfere in their affairs further than +should be welcome to them all. For her part, she was not afraid of +Angus Dhu, nor of Elder McMillan, nor of any one else, when it came to +the question of breaking up their home and sending them, one here and +another there, away from the mother. + +Shenac felt very strong and brave as she said all this to Hamish; and +yet when, as it was growing dark that night, she saw Elder McMillan +opening their gate, her first impulse was to run away. She did not, +however, but said to herself, "Now is the time to stand by my mother, +and help her to resist the elder's efforts to get little Hugh away from +us." Besides, she could not go away without being seen, and it would +look cowardly; so she placed herself behind the little wheel which the +mother had left for a moment, and when the elder came in she was as busy +and as quiet as (in his frequently-expressed opinion) it was the bounden +duty of all young women to be. + +Now, there was nothing in the whole round of Shenac's duties so +distasteful to her as spinning on the little wheel. The constant and +unexciting employment for hands and mind that spinning afforded, and +perhaps the pleasant monotony of the familiar humming of the wheel, +always exerted a soothing influence on the mother; and one of the first +things that had given them hope of her recovery after the shock of the +burning of the house was her voluntary bringing out of the wheel. But +it was very different with Shenac. The strength and energy so +invaluable to her in her household work or her work in the fields were +of no avail to her here. To sit following patiently and constantly the +gradual forming and twisting of the thread, did not suit her as it did +her mother; and watchful and excited as she was that night, she could +hardly sit quiet while the elder went through his usual salutations to +her mother and the rest. + +He was in no haste to make known his errand, if he had one, and he was +in no haste to go. He spoke in slow, unwilling sentences, as he had +done many times before, of the mysterious dealings of Providence with +the family, making long pauses between. And through his talk and his +silence the widow sat shedding a few quiet tears in the dark, and now +and then uttering a word of reply. + +What was the good of it all Shenac would have liked to shake him, and to +bid him "say his say" and go; but the elder seemed to have no say, at +least concerning Hugh. He went slowly through his accustomed round of +condolence with her mother and advice to the boys and Shenac, and, as he +rose to go, added something about a bee which some of the neighbours had +been planning to help the widow with the ploughing and sowing of her +land, and then he went away. + +"Some of the neighbours," repeated Shenac in a whisper to her brother. +"That's the elder's way of heaping coals on my head--good man!" + +"What do you suppose the elder cares about a girl like you, or Angus Dhu +either?" asked Hamish with a shrug. + +Shenac laughed, but had no time to answer. + +"I was afraid it might be about wee Hughie that the elder wanted to +speak," said the mother with a sigh of relief as she came in from the +door, where she had bidden the visitor good-night. + +"And what about Hughie?" asked Shenac, resuming her spinning. She knew +very well what about him; but her mother had not told her, and this was +as good a way as any to begin about their plans for the summer. + +Instead of answering her question, the mother said, after a moment's +silence,-- + +"He's a good man, Elder McMillan." + +"Oh yes, I daresay he's a good man," said Shenac with some sharpness; +"but that's no reason why he should want to have our Hughie." + +The little boys were all in bed by this time, and Hamish and Shenac were +alone with their mother. After a little impatient twitching of her +thread, Shenac put aside her wheel, swept up the hearth, and moved about +putting things in order in the room, and then she came and sat down +beside her mother. She did not speak, however; she did not know what to +say. Any allusion to the summer's work was almost surer to make her +mother shed tears, and Shenac could not bear to grieve her. She darted +an impatient glance at Hamish, who seemed to have no intention of +helping her to-night. He was sitting with his face upon his hands, just +as he had been sitting through the elder's visit, and Shenac could not +catch his eye. It seemed wrong to risk the bringing on of a wakeful, +moaning, miserable night to her mother; and she was thinking she would +say no more till morning, when her mother spoke again. + +"Yes, Elder McMillan is a good man. I would not be afraid for Hugh, and +he would be near at hand." + +"Yes," said Shenac, making an effort to speak quietly, "if Hugh must go, +he might as well go to Elder McMillan's as anywhere--" She stopped. + +"And Dan needs a firm hand, they say," continued the mother, her voice +breaking a little; "but I'm afraid for him. Angus Dhu is a stern man, +and Dan has been used to a hand gentle as well as firm. But he would +not be far away." + +Shenac broke out impatiently,-- + +"Angus Dhu's hand was not firm enough to keep his own son at home, and +he could never guide our Dan. Mother, never heed them that tell you any +ill of Dan. Has he ever disobeyed you once since--since then?" +Shenac's voice failed a little, then she went on again, "Why should Dan +go away, or any of us? Why can't we bide all together, and do the best +we can, till Allister comes home?" + +"But that must be a long time yet, if he ever comes," said the mother, +sighing. + +"Yes, it may be long," said Shenac eagerly. "Of course it cannot be for +the spring work, and maybe not for the harvest, but he's sure to come, +mother; and think of Allister coming and finding no home! Yes, I know +you are to bide here; but the land would be gone, and it would be no +home long to Allister or any of us without the land. Angus Dhu should +be content with what he's got," continued Shenac bitterly. "Allister +will never be content to let my father's land go out of our hands; and +Angus Dhu promised my father to give it up to Allister. Mother, we must +do nothing till Allister comes home.--Hamish, why don't you tell my +mother to wait till Allister comes home?" + +"Till Allister comes home! When Allister comes home!" This had been +the burden of all Shenac's comforting to her mother, even when she could +take no comfort from it herself. For a year seemed a long time to +Shenac; but three months of the year had passed already, and surely, +surely Allister would come. + +Hamish raised his face as Shenac appealed to him, but it was anything +but a hopeful face, and Shenac was glad that her mother was looking the +other way. + +"But what are we to do in the meantime?" he asked, and his voice was as +little hopeful as his face. For a moment Shenac was indignant at her +brother. It would need the courage of both to make the future look +otherwise than dark to their mother, and she thought Hamish was going to +fail her. She was growing very eager; but she knew that the quick, hot +words that might carry Hamish with her would have no force with her +mother, and she put a strong restraint on herself, and said quietly,-- + +"We can manage through the summer, mother. The wheat was sown in the +fall, you know, and the elder said we were to have a bee next week for +the oats, and we can do the rest ourselves--Hamish and Dan and I--till +Allister comes home." + +"It would be a hard fight for you all," said the mother despondingly. + +"You should say Dan and you and little Hugh and Colin," said Hamish +bitterly. "They could help far more than I can, unless I am much better +than I am now." And then he dropped his head on his hands again. + +Shenac rose suddenly and placed herself between him and her mother, and +then she said quietly,-- + +"And, mother, the elder thinks we can do it, or he wouldn't have spoken +about the bee. Nobody can think it right that Angus Dhu should take our +father's land from us; and the elder said nothing about Hugh; and Dan +would never bide with Angus Dhu and work our father's land for him. +Never! never! Mother, we must try what we can do till Allister comes +home." + +There was not much said after that. There was no decision in words as +to their plans, but Shenac knew they were to make a trial of the +summer's work--she and her brothers--and she was content. + +There were but two rooms downstairs in the little log house, and the +mother and Flora slept in the one in which they had been sitting. So +when Hamish came back from looking whether the gates and barn-doors were +safely shut, he found Shenac, who had much to say to him, waiting for +him outside. + +"Hamish," she said eagerly, "what ails you? Why did you not speak to my +mother and tell her what we ought to do? Hamish," she added, putting +out her hand to detain him as he tried to pass her--"Hamish, speak to +me. What ails you to-night, Hamish?" + +"What right have I to tell my mother--I, who can do nothing?" + +He shook off her detaining hand as if he was angry; but there was a +sound of tears in his voice, and Shenac's momentary feeling of offence +was gone. She would not be shaken off, and putting her arms round his +neck she held him fast. He did not try to free himself after the first +moment, but he turned away his face. + +"Hamish," she repeated, "what is it? Don't you think we can manage to +keep together till Allister comes home? Is it that, Hamish? Tell me +what you think it is right for us to do." + +"It is not that, Shenac; and I have no right to say anything--I, who can +do nothing." + +"Hamish!" exclaimed his sister, in a tone in which surprise and pain +were mingled. + +"If I were like the rest," continued Hamish--"I, who am the eldest; but +even Dan can do more than I can. You must not think of me, Shenac, in +your plans." + +For a moment Shenac was silent from astonishment; this was so unlike the +cheerful spirit of Hamish. Then she said,-- + +"Hamish, the work is not all. What could Dan or any of us do without +you to plan for us? We are the hands, you are the head." + +Hamish made an impatient movement. "Allister would be head and hands +too," he said bitterly. + +"But, Hamish, you are not Allister; you are Hamish, just as you have +always been. You are not surely going to fail our mother now--you, who +have done more than all of us put together to comfort her since then?" + +Hamish made no answer. + +"It is wrong for you to look at it in that way, Hamish," continued +Shenac. "I once heard my father say that though you were lame, God +might have higher work for you to do than for any of the rest of us. I +did not know what he meant then, but I know now." + +"Hush! don't, Shenac," said Hamish. + +"No; I must speak, Hamish. It is not right to fret because the work you +have to do is not just the work you would choose. And you'll break my +heart if you vex yourself about--because you are not like the rest. Not +one of us all is so dear to my mother and the rest as you are; you know +_that_, Hamish. And why should you think of this now, more than +before?" + +"Shenac, I have been a child till now, thinking of nothing. My looking +forward was but the dreaming of idle dreams. I have wakened since my +father died--wakened to find myself useless, a burden, with so much to +be done." + +"Hamish," said Shenac gravely, "that is not true, and it's foolish, +besides. If you _were_ useless--blind as well as lame--if you were as +cankered and ill to do with as you are mild and sweet, there would be no +question of burden, because you are one of us, our own. If you were +thinking of Angus Dhu, you might speak of burdens; but it is nonsense to +say that to me. You know that you are more to my mother than any of us, +and you are more to me than all my brothers put together; but I need not +tell you _that_. Hamish, if it had not been for you, I think my mother +must have died. What is Dan, or what am I, in comparison to you? +Hamish, you must take heart and be strong, for all our sakes." + +They were sitting on the doorstep by this time, and Shenac laid her head +on her brother's shoulder as she spoke. + +"I know I am all wrong, Shenac. I know I ought to be content as I am," +said Hamish at last, but he could say no more. + +Shenac's heart filled with love and pity unspeakable. She would have +given him her health and strength, and would have taken up his burden of +weakness and deformity to bear them henceforth for his sake. But she +did not tell him so; where would have been the good? She sat quite +still, only stroking his hand now and then, till he spoke again. + +"Perhaps I am wrong to speak to you about it, Shenac, but I seem to +myself to be quite changed; I seem to have nothing to look forward to. +If it had been me who was taken instead of Lewis." + +"Hamish," said Shenac gravely, "it is not saying it to me that is wrong, +but thinking it. And why should you have nothing to look forward to? +We are young. A year seems a long time; but it will pass, and when +Allister comes home, and we are prosperous again, it will be with you as +it would have been if my father had lived. You will get to your books +again, and learn and grow a wise man; and what will it signify that you +are little and lame, when you have all the honour that wisdom wins? Of +course all these sad changes are worse for you than for the rest. _We_ +will only have to work a little harder, but your life is quite changed; +and, Hamish, it will only be for a little while, till Allister comes +home." + +"But, Shenac," said Hamish eagerly, "you are not to think I mind _that_ +most; I am not so bad as that. If I were strong--if I were like the +rest--I would like nothing so well as to labour always for my mother and +you all; but I can do little." + +"Yes, I know," said Shenac; "but Dan can do that, and so can I But your +work will be different--far higher and nobler than ours. Only you must +not be impatient because you are hindered a little just now. Hamish, +bhodach, what is a year out of a whole lifetime? Never fear, you will +find your true work in time." + +"Bhodach" is "old man" in the language in which these children were +speaking. But on Shenac's lips it meant every sweet and tender name; +and, listening to her, Hamish forgot his troubles, or looked beyond +them, and his spirit grew bright and trustful again--peaceful for that +night at least. The shadow fell on him many a time again; but it never +fell so darkly but that the sunshine of his sister's face had power to +chase it away, till, by-and-by, there fell on both the light before +which all shadows for ever and for ever flee away. + + + +CHAPTER FOUR. + +And so, with a good heart, they began their work. I daresay it would be +amusing to some of my young readers if I were to go into particulars, +and tell them all that was done by each from day to day; but I have no +time nor space for this. + +The bee was a very successful one. As everybody knows, a bee is a +collection of the neighbours to help to do in one day work which it +would take one or two persons a long time to do. It is not usually to +do such work as ploughing or sowing that bees are had; but all the +neighbours were glad to help the Widow MacIvor with her spring work, and +so two large fields, one of oats and another of barley, were in those +two days ploughed and harrowed, and sowed and harrowed again. + +Shenac was not quite at her ease about the bee, partly because she +thought it had been the doing of Angus Dhu and the elder, and partly +because she felt if they were to be kept together they must depend, not +on their neighbours, but upon themselves. But it was well they had this +help, for the young people were quite inexperienced in such work as +ploughing and sowing, and the summers are so short in Canada that a week +or two sooner or later makes a great difference in the sowing of the +seed. + +There was enough left for Shenac and her brothers to keep them busy from +sunrise to sunset, during the months of May and June. There was the +planting of potatoes and corn, and the sowing of carrots and turnips; +and then there was the hoeing and keeping them all free from weeds. +There was also the making of the garden, and the keeping of it in order +when it was made. This had always been more the work of Hamish than of +any of the rest, and he made it his work still; and though he was not so +strong as he used to be, there never had been so much pains taken with +the garden before. Everybody knows what comfort for a family comes out +of a well-kept garden, even though there may be only the common +vegetables and very little fruit in it; and Hamish made the most of +theirs that summer, and so did they all. + +It must not be supposed that because Shenac was a girl she had no part +in the field-work. Even now, in that part of the country, the wives and +daughters of farmers help their fathers and brothers during the busy +seasons of spring and harvest; and for many years after the opening up +of the country the females helped to clear the land, putting their hands +to all kinds of out-door work as cheerfully as need be. As for Shenac, +she would have scorned the idea that there was any work that her +brothers could do for which they had not the strength and skill. + +Indeed, Shenac had her full share of the field-work, and much to do in +the house besides. The mother was not strong yet, either in mind or +body: she would never be strong again, Shenac sometimes feared, and she +must be saved as far as possible from all care and anxiety. So the +heaviest of the household work fell to Shenac. They had not a large +dairy, and never could have again; for the greater part of their pasture +and mowing land lay on the wrong side of the high cedar fence so hotly +resented by the children. But the three cows which they had were her +peculiar care. She milked them morning and evening, and, when the days +were longest, at noon too; and though her mother prepared the dishes for +the milk and skimmed the cream, Shenac always made the butter, because +churning needed strength as well as skill; and oftener than otherwise it +was done before she called her brothers in the morning. + +Much may be accomplished in a short time by a quick eye and a ready +hand, and Shenac had both. The minutes after meal-time which her +brothers took for rest, or for lingering about to talk together, she +filled with the numberless items of household work which seem little in +the doing, but which being left undone bring all things into disorder. + +When any number of persons are brought together in circumstances where +decision and action become necessary, the leadership will naturally fall +on the one among them who is best fitted by natural gifts or acquired +knowledge to assume responsibility. It is the same in families where +the head has been suddenly removed. Quite unconsciously to herself, +Shenac assumed the leadership in the household; and it was well for her +brothers that she had duties within-doors as well as in the fields. +There were days in these months of May and June which were not half long +enough for the accomplishment of her plans and wishes. I am afraid that +at such times the strength of Hamish and the patience of Dan must have +given out before she found it too dark to go on with their labours. But +the thought of the mother, weary with the work at home, made her shorten +the day to her brothers and lengthen it to herself. + +One of Shenac's faults was a tendency to go to extremes in all things +that interested her. She had made up her mind that the summer's work +must be successful; and to insure success all other things must be made +to yield. It was easy for her to forget the weakness of Hamish, for he +was only too willing to forget it himself; and as for Dan, though there +was some truth in Angus Dhu's assertion to his mother that "he was a +wild lad, and needed a firm hand to guide him," he gave no tokens of +breaking away as yet. Shenac had so impressed him with the idea that +they must keep the farm as their own, and show the neighbours that they +could keep it in order, that to him every successful day's work seemed a +triumph over Angus Dhu as well as over circumstances. His industry was +quite of his own free will, as he believed, and he gave Shenac none of +the credit of keeping him busy, and indeed she took none of the credit +to herself. In her determination to do the most that could be done, she +might have forgotten her mother's comfort too; but this was not +permitted. For if the mother tired herself with work, or if she saw +anything forgotten or neglected in the house, she became fretful and +desponding, and against this Shenac always strove to guard. + +If Shenac were ever so tired at night, it rested her to turn back to +look over the fields beginning to grow green and beautiful under their +hands. They worked in those days to some purpose, everybody +acknowledged. In no neighbourhood, far or near, were the fields better +worth looking at than those that had been so faithfully gone over by +Shenac and her brothers. Many a farmer paused, in passing, to admire +them, saying to himself that the Widow MacIvor's children were a credit +to her and to themselves; and few were so churlish as to refrain from +speaking a word of encouragement to them when an opportunity came. + +Even Angus Dhu gave many a glance of wonder and pleasure over his cedar +rails, and gave them credit for having done more than well. He was very +glad. He said so to himself, and he said so to his neighbours. And I +believe he was glad, in a way. He was too good a farmer not to take +pleasure in seeing land made the most of; and I think he was glad, too, +to see the children of his dead friend and cousin capable of doing so +well for themselves. + +It is just possible that deep down in his heart, unknown or +unacknowledged to himself, there lurked a hope that when Shenac should +marry, as he thought she was sure to do, and when wild Dan should have +gone away, as his brothers had done before him, those well-tilled fields +might still become his. Perhaps I am wrong, and hard upon him, as +Shenac was. + +She gave him no credit for his kind thoughts, but used to say to her +brothers, when she caught a glimpse of his face over the fence,-- + +"There stands Angus Dhu, glowering and glooming at us. He's not praying +for summer rain on our behalf, I'll warrant.--Oh well, Angus man, we'll +do without your prayers, as we do without your help, and as you'll have +to do without our land. Make the most of what you have got, and be +content." + +"Shenac," said Hamish on one of these occasions, "you're hard on Angus +Dhu." + +"Am I, Hamish?" said Shenac, laughing. "Well, maybe I am; but it will +not harm him, I daresay." + +"But it may harm yourself, Shenac," said Hamish gravely. "I think I +would rather lose all the work we have done this spring than have it +said that our Shenac was bearing false witness against our neighbour, +and he of our own kin, too." + +"Nobody would dare to say that of me," said Shenac, reddening. + +"But if it is true, what is the difference whether it is said or not?" +said Hamish. "You seem more glad of our success because you think it +vexes Angus Dhu, than because it pleases our mother and keeps us all at +home together. It does not vex him, I'm sure of that; and, whether it +does or not, it is wrong for you always to be thinking and saying it. +You are not to be grieved or angry at my saying it, Shenac." + +But both grieved and angry Shenac was at her brother's reproof. She did +not know which was greater, her anger or her grief. She did not trust +herself to answer him, and in a little time Hamish spoke again:-- + +"It cannot harm him--at least, I think it cannot really harm him, though +it may vex him; and I'm sure it must grieve the girls to hear that you +say such things about their father. But that is not what I was thinking +about. It must harm yourself most. You are growing hard and bitter. +You are not like yourself, Shenac, when you speak of Angus Dhu." + +The sting of her brother's words was in the last sentence, but it was +the first part that Shenac answered. + +"You know very well, Hamish, that I never speak of Angus Dhu except to +you--not even to my mother." + +"You have spoken to Dan--at least, you have spoken in his hearing. What +do you think I heard him saying the other day to Shenac yonder?" + +"Shenac yonder" was the youngest daughter of Angus Dhu, so called by the +brothers to distinguish her from their sister, who was "our Shenac" to +them. Other people distinguished between the cousins as they had +between the fathers. One was Shenac Bhan; the other, Shenac Dhu. + +"I don't know," said Shenac, startled. "What was it?" + +"Something like what you were saying to me just now. You may think how +Shenac's black eyes looked when she heard him." + +Shenac was shocked. + +"She would not mind what Dan said." + +"No. It was only when Dan told her that _you_ said it that she seemed +to mind," said Hamish gravely. + +"Dan had no business to tell her," said Shenac hotly; then she paused. + +"No," said Hamish; "I told him that." + +"I'll give him a hearing," began Shenac. + +"I think, Shenac, you should say nothing to Dan about it," said Hamish. +"Only take care never to say more than you think before the little ones, +or indeed before any one again. You may vex Angus Dhu, and Shenac +yonder, and the rest, but the real harm is done to us at home, and +especially to yourself, Shenac; for you no more believe that Angus Dhu +is a robber--the oppressor of the widow and the fatherless--than I do." + +Shenac uttered an exclamation of impatience. + +"I shall give it to Dan." + +"No, Shenac, you will not. Dan must be carefully dealt with. He has a +strong will of his own, and if it comes into his mind that you or any +one, except our mother, is trying to govern him, he'll slip through our +fingers some fine day." + +"You've been taking a leaf out of Angus Dhu's book. There's no fear of +Dan," said Shenac. + +"There's no fear of him as long as he thinks he's pleasing himself, and +that his sister is the best and the wisest girl to be found," said +Hamish. "But if it were to come to a trial of strength between you, Dan +would be sure to win." + +Shenac was silent. She knew it would not be well to risk her influence +over Dan by a struggle of any sort. But she was very angry with him. + +"He might have had more sense," she said, after a moment. + +"And indeed, Shenac, so might you," said Hamish gravely. "There should +be no more said about Angus Dhu, for his sake and ours. He has been +very friendly to us this summer, considering all things." + +"Considering what I said to him, you mean," said Shenac sharply. "I was +sorry for that as soon as I said it. But, Hamish, if you think I'm +going down on my knees to Angus Dhu to tell him so, you're mistaken. He +may not be a thief and a robber, but he's a dour carle, though he is of +our own kin, and as different from our father as the dark is different +from the day. And I can say nothing else of him, even for your sake, +Hamish." + +"It is not for my sake that I am speaking, Shenac, but for your own. +You are doing yourself a great wrong, cherishing this bitterness in your +heart." + +Shenac was too much grieved and too angry to speak. She knew very well +that she was neither very good nor very wise; but it had hitherto been +her great pleasure in life to know that Hamish thought her so, and his +words were very painful to her. She was vexed with him, and with Dan, +and with all the world. Above all, she was vexed with herself. + +She would not confess it, but in her heart she knew that a little of the +zest would be taken from their labours if she were sure that their +success would not be a source of vexation to Angus Dhu. And then Hamish +had said she was injuring Dan--encouraging him in what was wrong-- +perhaps risking her influence for good over him. + +The longer she thought about all this, the more unhappy she became. +"Bearing false witness!" she repeated. It was a great sin she had been +committing. It had been done thoughtlessly, but it was none the less a +sin for that, Shenac knew. Hamish was right. She was growing very hard +and wicked; and no wonder that he had come to think so meanly of her. +Shenac said all this to herself, with many sorrowful and some angry +tears. But the anger passed away before the sorrow. There were no +confessions made openly; but, whatever may have been her secret thoughts +of Angus Dhu, neither Dan nor Hamish nor anybody else ever heard Shenac +speak a disrespectful word of him again. + +Dan never got the "hearing" with which she had threatened him. She +checked him more than once, when in the old way he began to remark on +the evident interest that their father's cousin took in their work; but +she did it gently, remembering her own fault. + +The intercourse which had almost ceased between the families was +gradually renewed--at least, between the younger ones. Shenac could not +bring herself to go often to her cousins' house. She always felt, as +she said to Hamish, as though Angus Dhu "eyed her" at such times. And, +besides, she was too busy to go there or anywhere else. But her cousins +came often to see her when the day's work was over; and Shenac, the +youngest, who was her father's favourite, and who could take liberties +that none of the others could have done at her age, came at other times. +She was older than our Shenac by a year or so; but she was little and +merry, and her jet-black hair was cut close to her head like a child's, +so she seemed much younger. She could not come too often. She was +equally welcome to the grave, quiet Hamish and the boyish Dan, and more +welcome to Shenac than to either. For she never hindered work, but +helped it rather. She brought the news, too, and fought hot, merry +battles with the lads, and for the time shook even Hamish out of the +grave ways that were becoming habitual to him, and did Shenac herself +good by reminding her that she was not an old woman burdened with care, +but a young girl not sixteen, to whom fun and frolic ought to be +natural. + +There were not many newspapers taken in those parts about that time; but +Angus Dhu took one, and Shenac used to come over the fence with it, and, +giving it to Hamish, would take his hoe or rake and go on with his work +while he read the news to the rest. The newspaper was English, of +course. Gaelic was the language spoken at home--the language in which +the Bible was read, and the Catechism said; but the young people all +spoke and read English. And very good English too, as far as it went; +for it was book-English, learned at school from books that are now +considered out of date. But they were very good books for all that. +They used to have long discussions about the state of the world as they +gathered it from the newspapers--not always grave or wise, but useful, +especially to Shenac, by keeping her in mind of what in her untiring +industry she was in danger of forgetting, that there was a wide world +beyond these quiet lines within which they were living, where nobler +work than the mere earning of bread was being done by worthy and willing +hands. + + + +CHAPTER FIVE. + +July had come. There was a little pause in the field-work, for all the +seed had been sown and all the weeds pulled up, and they were waiting +for a week or two to pass, and then the haying was to begin. Even +haying did not promise to be a very busy season with them, for the +cutting and caring for the hay in their largest field would this year +fall to the lot of Angus Dhu. It was as well so, Shenac said to herself +with a sigh, for they could not manage much hay by themselves, and +paying wages would never do for them. Indeed, they would need some help +even with the little they had; for Dan had never handled a scythe except +in play, and Hamish, even if he had the skill, had not the strength. + +And then the wool. They must have their cloth early this year, for last +year they had been obliged to sell the wool, and the boys' clothes were +threadbare. If they could get the wool spun early, McLean the weaver +would weave their cloth first. She must try to see what could be done. +But, oh, that weary little wheel! + +Shenac's mother thought it was a wonderful little wheel; and so indeed +it was. It had been part of the marriage outfit of Shenac's grandmother +before she left her Highland home. It had been in almost constant use +all these years, and bade fair to be as good as ever for as many years +to come. There was no wearing it out or putting it out of order, for, +like most things made in those old times, it had strength if not +elegance, and Shenac's mother was as careful of it as a modern musical +lady is of her grand piano. + +I cannot describe it to you, for I am not very well acquainted with such +instruments of labour. It was not at all like the wheels which are used +now-a-days in districts where the great manufactories have not yet put +wheels out of use. It was a small, low, complicated affair, at which +the spinner sat, using both foot and hand. It needed skill and patience +to use it well, and strength too. A long day's work well done on the +little wheel left one far wearier than a day's work in the field. + +As for Shenac, the very thought of it made her weary. If she had lived +in the present day, she would have said it made her nervous. But, +happily for Shenac, she did not know that she had any nerves, and her +mother's wheel got the blame of her discomfort. Not that she ever +ventured to speak a disrespectful word of it. The insane idea that +perhaps her mother might be induced to sell it and buy one of the +new-fashioned kind, like that Archie Matheson's young wife had brought +with her, _did_ come into her head once, but she never spoke of it. It +would have been wrong as well as foolish to do so, for her mother would +never try to learn to use the new one, and half the comfort of her life +would be gone without her faithful friend, the little wheel. + +"Oh, if I could get one for myself!" said Shenac. She had seen and used +Mary Matheson's last summer, and now, hurried as she was at home, she +took an afternoon to go with Hamish to see it again. + +"Could you not make one, Hamish?" she said entreatingly; "you can do so +many things." + +But Hamish shook his head. + +"I might make the stock if I had tools; but the rest of it--no." + +The sheep were shorn. There were sixteen fleeces piled up in the barn; +but a great deal must be done to it before it could be ready for the +boys to wear. One thing Shenac had determined on. It should be sent +and carded at the mill. The mill was twenty miles away, to be sure-- +perhaps more; but the time taken for the journey would be saved ten +times over. Shenac thought she might possibly get through the spinning, +but to card it by hand, with all there was to do in the fields, would be +quite impossible. + +This matter troubled Shenac all the more that she could not share her +vexation with Hamish. The idea of selling the grandmother's wheel +seemed to him little short of sacrilege; and neither he nor their cousin +Shenac could see why the mother could not dye and card and spin the +wool, as she had been accustomed to do. But Shenac knew this to be +impossible. Her mother was able for no such work now, though she might +think so herself; and Shenac knew that to try and fail would make the +mother miserable. What was to be done? Over this question she pondered +with an earnestness, and, alas! with a uselessness, that gave impatience +to her hand and sharpness to her voice at last. + +"What aileth thee, Shenac Bhan, bonny Shenac, Shenac the farmer, Shenac +the fair? Wherefore rests the shadow on thy brow, and the look of +sadness in thine azure eyes?" Hamish had been reading to them Gaelic +Ossian, and Shenac Dhu had caught up the manner of the poem, and spoke +in a way that made them all laugh. Shenac Bhan laughed too; but not +because she was merry, for her cousin's nonsense always vexed her when +she was "out of sorts." But her cousin Christie was there, Mrs More, +the eldest sister of Shenac Dhu; and so Shenac Bhan laughed with the +rest. She was here on a visit from the city of M--- where she lived, +and had come over to see her aunt, as Angus Dhu's children always called +the widow. A heavy summer shower was falling, and all the boys had +taken refuge from it in the house, and there were noise and confusion +for a time. + +"I want Christie to come into the barn and see our wool," said Shenac +Bhan at last, when the shower was over. "And, Shenac--dark Shenac, +doleful Shenac--you are to stay and keep the lads in order till we come +back." + +Shenac Dhu made a face, but let them go. + +Mrs More was a pale, quiet woman, with a grave but kind manner, which +put Shenac at her ease at once, though she had not seen her since her +marriage, which was more than five years before. She had always been +very kind to the children when she lived at home, and the memory of this +gave Shenac courage to ask her help out of at least one of her +difficulties. + +"How much you have grown, Shenac!" said her cousin. "I hardly think I +would have known you if I had seen you anywhere else. Yes, I think I +would have known your face anywhere. But you are a woman now, and doing +a woman's work, they tell me." + +"We have all been busy this summer," said Shenac; "but our hurry is over +now for a while." + +Heedless of the little pools that were shining here and there, they went +first into the garden, and then round the other buildings, and over to +the spot, still black and charred, where the house had stood. But +little was said by either of them. + +"Do you like living in the city?" said Shenac at last. + +"For some things I like it--for most things, indeed; but sometimes I +long for a sight of the fields and woods, more for my wee Mary's sake +than for my own." + +"This is our wool," said Shenac, as they entered the barn; "I wish it +was spun." + +"Shenac," said her cousin kindly, "have you not undertaken too much? +It's all very well for you to speak of Hamish and Dan, but the weight +must fall on you. I see that plainly." + +But Shenac would not let her think so. + +"I only do my share," said she eagerly. + +"I think you could have helped them more by coming to M--- and taking a +situation. You could learn to do anything, Shenac, if you were to try." + +But Shenac would not listen. + +"We must keep together," said she; "and the land must be kept for +Allister. There is no fear. We shall not grow rich, but we can live, +if we bide all together and do our best." + +"Shenac," persisted her cousin, "I do not want to discourage you; but +there are so many things which a girl like you ought not to do--cannot +do, indeed, without breaking your health. I know. I was the eldest at +home. I know what there is to do in a place like yours. The doctor +tells me I shall never be quite well again, because of the long strain +of hard work and exposure when I was young like you. Think, if your +health was to fail." + +Shenac turned her compassionate eyes upon her. + +"But your father was hard on you, folks say, and I have the work at my +own taking." + +Mrs More shook her head sadly. + +"Ah, Shenac dear, circumstances may be far harder on you than ever my +father was on me. You do not know what may lie before you. No girl +like you should have such responsibility. If you will come with me or +follow me, you and Hamish, I can do much for you. You could learn to do +anything, Shenac, and Hamish is very clever. There are places where his +littleness and his lameness would not be against him, as they must be on +the land. Let my father take Dan, as he wished, and let Hughie go to +the elder's for a while. The land can lie here safe enough till +Allister comes home, if that is what you wish. Indeed, Shenac, you do +not know what you are undertaking." + +"Cousin Christie," said Shenac gently, "you are very kind, but I cannot +leave my mother; and I am strong--stronger than you think. Christie, +you speak as though you thought Allister would never come home. Was our +Allister a wild lad, as your father says? Surely, he'll come home to +his mother, now that his father is dead." + +She sat down on the pile of wool, and turned a very pale, frightened +face to her cousin. Mrs More stooped down and kissed her. + +"My dear," she said gently, "Allister was not a wild lad in my time, but +good and truthful--one who honoured his parents. But, Shenac, the world +is wide, and there are so many things that those who have lived in this +quiet place all their lives cannot judge of. And even if Allister were +to come back, he might not be content to settle down here in the old +quiet way. The land would seem less to him than it seems to you." + +"But if Allister should not come home, or if he should not stay, my +mother will need me all the more. No, Cousin Christie, you must not +discourage me. I must try it. And, indeed, it is not I alone. Hamish +has so much sense and judgment, and Dan is growing so strong. And we +will try it anyway." + +"Well, Shenac, you deserve to succeed, and you will succeed if anybody +could," said her cousin. "I will not discourage you. I wish I could +help you instead." + +"You can help me," said Shenac eagerly; "that's what I brought you out +to say. Our wool--you are going back soon, and if the waggon goes, will +you ask your father to let our wool go to the mill? The carding takes +so long, and my mother is not so strong as she used to be. And that is +one of the things I cannot abide. The weary little wheel is bad enough. +Will you ask your father, Christie?" + +Mrs More laughed. + +"That is but a small favour, Shenac. Of course my father will take it, +and he'll bring it back too; for, though it is not his usual plan at +this time of the year, he's going on all the way to M--- with butter. +There came word yesterday that there was great demand for it. The wool +will be done by the time he comes back; and he is to take his own too, I +believe." + +Shenac gave a sigh of relief. + +"Well, that's settled." + +"Why did you not ask my father himself?" said Mrs More. "Are not you +and he good friends, Shenac?" Shenac muttered something about not +liking to give trouble and not liking to ask Angus Dhu. Mrs More +laughed again. + +"I think you are hard on my father, Shenac. I think he would be a good +friend to you if you would let him. You must not mind a sharp word from +the like of him. His bark is worse than his bite." + +Shenac was inexpressibly uncomfortable, remembering that all the hard +words had come from her and not from Angus Dhu. + +"Well, never mind," said Mrs More; "the carrying of the wool is my +father's favour. What can I do for you, Shenac?" + +"You can do one thing for me," said Shenac briskly, glad to escape from +a painful subject, and laying her hand on a shining instrument of steel +that peeped from beneath the wool on which she was sitting. "You can +cut my hair off. My mother does not like to do it, and Hamish won't. I +was going to ask Shenac yonder; but you will do it better." And she +began to loosen the heavy braids. + +"What's that about Shenac yonder?" said that young person, coming in +upon them. "I should like to know what you are plotting, you two, +together--and bringing in my innocent name too!" + +"Nothing very bad," said Shenac, laughing. "I want Christie to cut my +hair, it is such a trouble; it takes a whole half-hour at one time or +other of the day to keep it neat, and half-hours are precious." + +"I don't like to do it, Shenac," said Mrs More. + +Shenac Dhu held up her hands in astonishment. + +"Cut your hair off! Was the like ever heard of?--Nonsense, Christie! +she never means it; and Hamish would never let her, besides. She'll +look no better than the rest of us without her hair," continued she, +taking the heavy braids out of Shenac's hands and pushing her back on +the pile of wool from which she had risen. "Christie, tell Shenac about +John Cameron, as you told us last night." + +While Shenac listened to the account of a sad accident that had happened +to a young man from another part of the country, Shenac Dhu let down the +long, fair hair of her cousin, and, by the help of an old card that lay +near, smoothed it till it lay in waves and ripples of gold far below her +waist. Then, as Shenac Bhan still sat, growing pale and red by turns as +she listened, she with great care rolled the shining mass into thick +curls over neck and shoulders. + +"Now stand up and show yourself," said she, as she finished. "Is she +not a picture? Christie, you should take her to the town with you and +put her up in your husband's shop-window. You would make her fortune +and your own too." + +Shenac Bhan had this advantage over her cousin, and indeed over most +people--that the sun that made them as brown as a berry, after the first +few days' exposure left her as fair and unfreckled as ever; and she +really was a very pretty picture as she stood laughing and blushing +before her cousins. The door opened, and Hamish came in. + +"My mother sent me to bid you all come in to tea;" but he stopped as his +eye fell on his sister. + +"Tea!" cried Shenac Bhan. "I meant to do all that myself. Who would +have thought that we had been here so long?" And she made a movement, +as if to bind back her hair, that she might hasten away. + +"Be quiet; stay till I bid you go," said Shenac Dhu, hastily letting the +curls fall again. "I wonder if all the puddles are dried up?--She ought +to see herself. Cut them off! The vain creature! Never fear, Hamish." + +"Christie is to cut it," said Shenac Bhan, laughing, and holding the +wool-shears towards Mrs More. "I must do it, Hamish; it takes such a +time to keep it decently neat. My mother does not care, and why should +you?" + +"Whisht, Hamish," said Shenac Dhu, "you're going to quote Saint Paul and +Saint Peter about a woman's hair being a covering and a glory. Don't +fash yourself. Why, she would deserve to be a Scots worthy more than +George Wishart, or than the woman who was drowned even, if she were to +do it!" + +"You had your own cut," said Shenac Bhan, looking at her cousin with +some surprise. "Why should I not do the same?" + +"You are not me. Everybody has not my strength of mind," said Shenac +Dhu, nodding gravely. + +"Toch! you cut yours that it might grow long and thick like our +Shenac's," said Dan, who had been with them for some time. "Think of +your hair, and look at this." And he lifted the fair curls admiringly. + +Shenac Bhan laughed. + +"It's an awful bother, Dan." + +"But it would be a pity to lose it. What a lot of it there is!" And +the boy walked round his sister, touching it as he went. + +"She never meant to do it; but after that she could not," said Shenac +Dhu, pretending to whisper. + +"Our Shenac never says what she doesn't mean," said Dan hotly. + +"Whatever other people's Shenacs do," said Hamish laughing. + +Shenac Dhu made as if she would charge him with the great shears. + +"Give them to Christie," said Shenac Bhan. "What a work to make about +nothing!" + +"She does not mean to do it yet," said Shenac Dhu; but she handed the +shears to her sister. + +"I don't like to do it, Shenac," said Mrs More. "Think how long it +will take to grow again; and it is beautiful hair," she added, as she +came near and passed her fingers through it. + +"Nonsense, Christie, she's not in earnest," persisted Shenac Dhu. + +With a quick, impatient motion, Shenac Bhan took the shears from her +cousin's hand and severed one--two--three of the bright curls from the +mass. Shenac Dhu uttered a cry. + +"There! did I not tell you?" cried Dan, forgetting everything else in +his triumph over Shenac Dhu. Hamish turned and went out without a word. + +"There," said Shenac Bhan; "you must do it now, Christie." + +Mrs More took the great shears and began to cut without a word; and no +one spoke again till the curls lay in a shining heap at their feet. +Then Shenac Dhu drew a long breath, and said,-- + +"Don't say afterwards it was my fault." + +"It was just your fault, Shenac Dhu, you envious, spiteful thing," +exclaimed the indignant Dan. + +"Nonsense, Cousin Shenac.--Be quiet, Dan. She had nothing to do with +it. It has been a trouble all summer, and I'm glad to be rid of it. I +only wish I could spin it, like the wool." + +"What a lot of it there is!" And Shenac Dhu stooped down and lifted a +long tress or two tenderly, as if they had life. + +"What will you do with it, Shenac?" + +"Burn it, since I cannot make stockings of it. Put them in here." And +she held up her apron. + +"Will you give your hair to me, Shenac?" asked Mrs More. + +"What can you do with it?" asked Shenac in some surprise. "Surely I'll +give it to you, so that I hear no more about it." The curls were +carefully gathered, and tied in Mrs More's handkerchief. + +"Shenac Bhan," said the other Shenac solemnly, "you look like a shorn +sheep. I shall never see you again without thinking of the young woman +tied to the stake on the sands, and the sea coming up and up--" + +"Shenac, be quiet. It is sinful to speak lightly of so solemn a thing," +said her sister gravely. + +"Solemn!" said Shenac. "Lightly! By no means. I was putting two +solemn things together. I don't know which is more solemn. For my +part, I would as soon feel the cold water creeping up my back, like--" + +"Shenac," said our Shenac entreatingly, "don't say foolish things and +vex my mother and Hamish." + +Her cousin put her hand on her mouth. + +"You have heard my last word." + +But the last word about the shining curls was not spoken yet. + + + +CHAPTER SIX. + +The day when the haying was to have commenced was very rainy, and so was +every day for a week or more. People were becoming a little anxious as +to the getting in of the hay; for in almost all the fields it was more +than ripe, and everybody knows that it should not stand long after that. +The fields of the Macivors were earlier than those of most people, and +Shenac was especially careful to get the hay in at the right time and in +good condition, because they had so much less of it than ever before. + +And besides, the wheat-harvest was coming on, and where there were so +few to help, every day made a difference. Whenever there came a glimpse +of sunshine, Dan was out in the field, making good use of his scythe; +for mowing was new and exciting work to him, though he had seen it done +every summer of his life. It is not every boy of fourteen that could +swing a scythe to such good purpose as Dan, and he might be excused for +being a little proud and a little unreasonable in the matter. And after +all, I daresay he knew quite as much about it as Shenac. When she told +him how foolish it was to cut down grass when there was no chance of +getting it dried, he only laughed and pointed to the fields of Angus +Dhu, where there were three men busy, and acres and acres of grass lying +as it had fallen. + +"You are a good farmer, Shenac, but Angus Dhu, you must confess, has had +more experience, and is a better judge of the weather. We're safe +enough to follow him." + +There was reason in this, but it vexed Shenac to have Angus Dhu quoted +as authority; and it vexed her too that Dan should take the matter into +his own hands without regard to her judgment. + +"Angus Dhu can get all the help he needs to make the hay when it fairs," +said she. "But if we have too much down we shall not be able to manage +it right, I'm afraid." + +"There's no fear of having too much down. I must keep at it. Where +there's only one man to cut, he must keep at it," said Dan gravely. "If +you and the rest of the children are busy when the sun shines, you will +soon overtake me." + +"Only one man!" "You and the rest of the children!" Vexed as Shenac +was, she could not help being amused, and fortunately a good deal of her +vexation passed away in the laugh, in which Dan heartily joined. + +This week of rain was a trying time to Shenac. Nothing could be done +out of doors, for the rain was constant and heavy. If she could have +had the wheel to herself, she would have got on with the spinning, and +that would have been something, she thought. Her mother was spinning, +however; and though she could not sit at the wheel all day, she did not +like to have her work interfered with, and Shenac could not make use of +the time when her mother was not employed, and very little was +accomplished. There was mending to be done, which her mother could have +done so much better than she could, Shenac thought. But her mother sat +at the wheel, and Shenac wearied herself over the shirts and trousers of +her brothers, and at last startled herself and every one else by +speaking sharply to little Flora and shaking Colin well for bringing in +mud on their feet when they came home from school. + +After that she devoted her surplus energies to the matter of +house-cleaning, and that did better. Everything in the house, both +upstairs and down, and everything in the dairy, passed through her +hands. Things that could be scrubbed were scrubbed, and things that +could be polished were polished. The roof and the walls were +whitewashed, and great maple-branches hung here and there upon them, +that the flies might not soil their whiteness; and then Shenac solemnly +declared to Hamish that it was time the rain should cease. + +Hamish laughed. The week had passed far less uncomfortably to him than +to his sister. He had made up his mind to the necessity of staying +within-doors during such weather; and he could do so all the more easily +as, with a good conscience, he could give himself up to the enjoyment of +a book that had fallen into his hands. It was not a new book. Two or +three of the first pages were gone, but it was as good as new to Hamish. +It was a new kind of arithmetic, his friend Rugg, the peddler, told +him. He knew Hamish liked that sort of thing, and so he had brought it +to him. + +Hamish was quite occupied with it. He forgot the hay, and the rain, and +even his own rheumatic pains, in the interest with which he pored over +it. Shenac did not grudge him his pleasure. She even tried to get up +an interest in the unknown quantities, whose values, Hamish assured her, +were so easily discovered by the rules laid down in the book. But she +did not enter heartily into her brother's pleasure, as she usually did. +She wondered at him, and thought it rather foolish in him to be so taken +up with trifles when there was so much to think about. She forgot to be +glad that her brother had found something to keep him from vexing +himself, as he had done so much of late, by thinking how little he could +do for his mother and the rest; and she said to herself that Christie +More had been right when she said that it was upon her that the burden +of care and labour must fall. + +"You are tired to-night, Shenac," said Hamish, as she sat gazing +silently and listlessly into the fire. + +"Tired!" repeated Shenac scornfully. "What with, I wonder. Yes, I am +tired with staying within-doors, when there is so much to be done +outside. If my mother would only let me take the wheel, that would be +something." + +"But my mother is busy with it herself," said Hamish. "Surely you do +not think you can do more or better than my mother?" + +"Not better, but more; twice as much in a day as she is doing now. +We'll not get our cloth by the new year, at the rate the spinning is +going on, and the lads' clothes will hardly hold together even now." +Shenac gave an impatient sigh. + +"But, Shenac," said her brother, "there is no use in fretting about it; +that will do no good." + +"No; if only one could help it," said Shenac. + +"Shenac, my woman," said the mother from the other side of the fire, "I +doubt you'll need to go to The Eleventh to-morrow for the dye-stuffs. I +am not able to go so far myself, I fear." + +The townships, or towns, of that part of the country are all divided off +into portions, a mile in width, called concessions; and as the little +cluster of houses where the store was had no name as yet, it was called +The Eleventh; and indeed, all the different localities were named from +the concession in which they were found. + +"There is no particular hurry about going, I suppose, mother," Shenac +answered indifferently. + +"The sooner the better," said her mother. "The things are as well here +as there, and we'll need them soon. What is to hinder you from going +to-morrow?" + +"If the morning is fair, I'll need Shenac's help at the hay, mother," +said Dan with an air. + +"I'll need Shenac's help!" It might have been Angus Dhu himself, by the +way it was said, Shenac thought. It was ludicrous. Her mother did not +seem to see anything ludicrous in it, however; for she only answered,-- + +"Oh yes, Dan; if it should be fair, I suppose I can wait." Hamish was +busy with his book again. + +"It's a very heavy crop," continued Dan. "It is all that a man can do +to cut yon grass and keep at it steady." + +Of course Dan did not mean to take the credit of the heavy crop to +himself, but it sounded exactly as if he did; and there was something +exceedingly provoking to Shenac in the way in which he stretched himself +up when he said, "all that a man can do." A laughing glance that came +to her over the top of Hamish's book dispelled her momentary anger, +however. + +"If Hamish does not mind, I'm sure _I_ need not," she said to herself. + +Dan went on:--"I shall put what I have cut to-day in the long barn. It +will be just the thing for the spring's work." + +Dan's new-found far-sightedness was too much for the gravity of Hamish, +and Shenac joined heartily in the laugh. Dan looked a little +discomfited. + +"You must settle it with Shenac and your brother," said the mother. + +"All right, Dan, my boy," said Hamish heartily; "it's always best to +look ahead, as Mr Rugg would say.--What do you think, Shenac?" + +"All right; only you should not say `my boy' to our Dan, but `my man,'" +said Shenac gravely. + +Even little Flora could understand the joke of Dan's assuming the airs +of manhood, and all laughed heartily. Dan joined in the laugh +good-humouredly enough. + +"You see, Shenac," said Hamish, during the few minutes they always +lingered together after the others had gone to bed, "Dan may be led, but +he will not be driven--at least, not by you or me." + +"Led!" exclaimed Shenac; "I think he means to lead us all. That scythe +has made a man of him all at once. I declare it goes past my patience +to hear the monkey." + +"It must not go past your patience if you can help it, Shenac," said her +brother. "All that nonsense will be laughed out of him, but it must not +be by you or me." + +"Oh, well, I'm not caring," said Shenac. "I only hope it will be fair +to-morrow, so that I can get to help him. I could mow as well as he, if +my mother would let me. However, it's all the same whether I help him +or he helps me, so that the work is done some way." + +"We'll all help one another," said Hamish. "Shenac, you were right the +other day when you told me I was wrong to murmur because I could not do +more than God had given me strength to do. It does not matter what work +falls to each of us, so that it is well done; and we can never do it +unless we keep together." + +"No fear, Hamish, bhodach, we'll keep together," said Shenac heartily. +"I do hope to-morrow may be fine." + + + +CHAPTER SEVEN. + +But to-morrow was not fine; it was quite the contrary. Shenac milked in +the rain, and gathered vegetables for dinner in the rain, and would +gladly have made hay all day in the rain, if that had been possible. +Not a pin cared Shenac for the rain. It wet her face, and twined her +hair into numberless little rings all over her head, and that was the +very worst it could do. It could not spoil her shoes, for in summer she +did not wear any, unless she was in the field; and it took the rain a +long time to penetrate through the thick woollen dress she always wore +in rainy weather. Indeed, she rather liked to be out in the rain, +especially when there was a high wind, against which she might measure +her strength; and she was just going to propose to her mother that she +should set out to The Eleventh for the dye-stuffs, when the door opened, +and her cousin Shenac came in. + +Rain or shine, Shenac Dhu was always welcome, and quite a chorus of +exclamations greeted her. + +"Toch! what about the rain! I'm neither salt nor sugar to melt in it," +she said, as Shenac Bhan took off her wet plaid and drew her towards the +fire. "I must not stay," she continued.--"Hamish, have you done with +your book? Mr Rugg stayed at our house last night, and he's coming +here next, and so I ran over the field to see his pretty things.--O +Shenac, he has such a pretty print this time--blue and white." + +"But could you not see his pretty things last night? And are you to get +a dress of the blue and white?" asked Shenac Bhan. + +"Of course I could see them, but I could not take a good look at them +because my father was there. He thinks me a sensible woman, and I can't +bear to undeceive him; and my eyes have a trick of looking at pretty +things as though I wanted them, and that looks greedy. But I'm not for +a dress of the blue and white. Mysie Cairns in The Sixteenth has one, +and that's enough for one township." + +"But Mr Rugg will not open his packs here; we want nothing," said +Shenac Bhan, "unless he may have dye-stuffs for my mother." + +"He has no dye-stuffs--you'll get that at The Eleventh," said Shenac +Dhu; "but it's nonsense about not wanting anything. I'll venture to say +that Mr Rugg will leave more here than he left at our house, or at any +house in the town-ship. I wish he would come." + +They all had plenty to say to Shenac Dhu, but that her mind was full of +other things it was easy to see. She laughed and chatted, but she +watched the window till the long, high waggon of the peddler came in +sight, and then she drew Shenac Bhan into a corner and kept her there +till the door opened. + +"Good-morning, good-morning," said the peddler as he came in. Glancing +round the room, he stood still on the door-mat with a comical look of +indecision on his face. "I don't suppose you want to see me enough to +pay for the tracks I shall make on the floor," he said to Shenac Bhan. +"I don't know as I should have come round this way this time, only I've +got something for you--something you'll be glad to have." + +Everybody was indignant at the idea of his not coming in. + +"Never mind the floor," said Shenac Bhan. "We don't want anything +to-day, but we are glad to see you all the same." + +"Don't say you don't want anything till you see what I've got," said Mr +Rugg gravely. "I ha'n't no doubt there's a heap of things you would +like, if you could get them. Now, a'n't there?" + +"She wants a wig, for one thing," said Shenac Dhu. + +"Well, no; I calculate she'll get along without that as well as most +folks. I don't see as you spoiled your looks, for all Mrs More said," +he added, as he touched with his long forefinger one of the little rings +that clustered round Shenac's head. "Come, now, a'n't there something +I've got that you want?" he asked as Shenac turned away with an +impatient shrug. + +"No; not if you haven't a wig. Do we want anything, mother? It is not +worth while to open your box in the rain." + +Mr Rugg was already out of hearing. + +"We can look at them, at any rate," said Shenac Dhu. But Shenac Bhan +looked very much as if she did not intend to do even that, till the door +opened again, and Mr Rugg walked in, followed by Dan, and between them +they carried a spinning-wheel. + +"A big wheel, just like Mary Matheson's!" exclaimed Shenac Bhan. + +"No; a decided improvement upon that," said Mr Rugg, preparing to put +on the rim and the head. The band was ready, too; and he turned the +wheel and pulled out an imaginary thread with such gravity that all +laughed. "Well, what do you think of it, girls?" he asked after a +little time. "Will you have it, Miss Shenac?" + +"I should like to borrow it for a month," said Shenac with a sigh. + +"It a'n't to be lent nor to be borrowed," said the peddler; "leastways, +it a'n't for me to lend. The owner may do as she likes." + +"How much would it cost?" asked Shenac with a vague, wild idea that +possibly at some future time she might get one. + +"I can tell you that exactly," said the peddler. "I've got the invoice +here all right, and another document with it;" and he handed Shenac a +letter, directed, as she knew at a glance, in the handwriting of her +cousin, Mrs More. + +"It's from Christie," said Shenac Dhu, looking over her shoulder. "Open +it, Shenac; what ails you?" + +Shenac opened the letter, and the other Shenac read it with her. It +need not be given here. It told how Mrs More had taken Shenac's hair +to a hair-dresser in the city, and how the money she had received for it +had been given into the hands of Mr Rugg, who was to buy a wheel with +it, as something Shenac would be sure to value. + +"And here it is," said Mr Rugg; "as good a wheel as need be.--It will +put yours quite out of fashion, Mrs Macivor." + +It was with some difficulty that the mother could be made to understand +that the wheel was Shenac's--bought and paid for. As for Shenac, she +could only stand and look at it, saying not a word. Shenac Dhu shook +her heartily. + +"Here I have come all the way in the rain to hear what you would say, +and you stand and glower and say nothing at all." + +"Try it, Shenac," said Hamish, bringing a handful of rolls of wool from +his mother's wheel. + +"She'll need to learn first," said Shenac Dhu. + +But Shenac had tried Mary Matheson's wheel more than once; and besides, +as Mr Rugg had often said, and now triumphantly repeated, she had a +"faculty." There really did seem nothing that she could not learn to do +more easily than other people. Now the long thread was drawn out even +and fine as any that ever passed through the mother's hands on the +precious little wheel. The mother examined and approved, Shenac Dhu +exclaimed, and the little lads laughed and clapped their hands. As for +Shenac Bhan, she could hardly believe in her own good fortune. She did +not seem to hear the talk or the laugh, but, with a face intent and +grave, walked up and down, drawing out the long, even threads, and then +letting them roll up smoothly on the spindle. + +"Take it moderate, Miss Shenac," said the peddler, "take it moderate. +It don't pay to overdo even a good thing." + +But Shenac was busy calculating how many days' work there might be in +the wool, and how long it would take her to finish it. + +"The rainy days will not be lost now," she said to herself triumphantly. +"Of course I must stick to the hay; but mornings and evenings and rainy +days I can spin. No fear for the lads' clothes now." + +"Hamish," said Shenac Dhu, "I shall never see her without fancying she +has a wheel on her head." + +Hamish laughed. His pleasure in the pleasure of his sister was intense. + +"I don't know what we can ever say to Christie for her kindness," he +said. + +"We'll write a letter to her, Hamish, you and I together," said his +sister eagerly. "I can't think how it all happened. But I am so glad +and thankful; and I must tell Christie." + +The next day was fair. When Shenac went out with little Hugh to the +milking in the pasture, she thought she heard the pleasant sound of the +whetting of scythes nearer than the fields of Angus Dhu. She could see +nothing, however, because of the mist that lay close over the low lands. +But when she went out after breakfast to spread the grass cut by Dan +during the rainy days, she found work going on that made Dan's efforts +seem like play. + +"Is it a bee?" said Shenac to herself. + +No, it was not a bee, Aleck Munroe said, but he and the other lads +thought there was as much hay down in their fields as could be well +cared for, and so they thought they would see what could be done in +their neighbour's. It was likely to continue fine now, as the weather +had cleared at the change of the moon; and a few hours would help here, +without hindering there. + +"Help! Yes, indeed!" thought Shenac as she watched the swinging of the +scythes, and saw the broad swaths of grain that fell as they passed on. +Dan followed, but he made small show after the young giants that had +taken the work in hand; and in a little while he made a virtue of +necessity and exchanged the scythe for the spreading-pole, to help +Shenac and the little ones in the merry, healthful work. + +After this there were no more rainy days while the hay-time lasted. +Shenac and Dan were not the first in all the concessions to finish the +getting in of the hay, but they were by no means the last. It was all +got in in a good state, too; and the grain-harvest began cheerfully and +ended successfully. Shenac took the lead in the cutting of the grain. + +In those days, in that part of the country, there were none of those +wonderful machines which now begin to make farm-work light. The horses +were used to draw the grain and hay to the barn or the stacks when it +was ready; but there were no patent rakes or mowing or reaping machines +for them to draw. All the wheat, and a good deal of the other grain, +was cut down with the old-fashioned hook or sickle, the reapers stooping +low to their work. It was tedious and exhausting labour, and slow, too. +Shenac's "faculty" and perfect health stood her in good stead at this +work as at other things. She tired herself thoroughly every day, but +she was young and strong; and though the summer nights were short there +was no part of them lost to her, for she fell asleep the moment her head +touched the pillow. Even thoughts of the weary and suffering Hamish did +not often disturb her rest. She slept the dreamless sleep of perfect +health till the dawn awakened her, cheerful and ready for another day's +labour. + +They had very little help for the harvest. There was one moonlight bee. +They say the grain is more easily cut with the dew upon it; and +moonlight bees are common in Glengarry even now. But Shenac and her +brothers knew nothing of this one till, on going out in the morning, +they found more than half of their wheat lying ready to be bound up in +sheaves. + +The rest of the harvest was very successful. Indeed, it was a +favourable harvest everywhere that year. There was rejoicing through +all the township--through many town-ships; and even the most earthly and +churlish of the farmers assented with a good grace when a day of +thanksgiving was appointed, and kept it outwardly in appearance, if not +inwardly with the heart. + +As for Shenac, it would be impossible to describe her triumph and +thankfulness when the last sheaf was safely gathered in. For she was +truly thankful, though I am afraid her triumphant self-congratulation +went even beyond her thankfulness. Her thankfulness was not displayed +in a way that made it apparent to others; but it filled her heart and +gave her courage to look forward. It did more than this: it gave her a +self-reliance quite unusual--indeed not very desirable--in one so young; +and there was danger, all the greater because she was quite unconscious +of it, that it might degenerate into something different from an humble +yet earnest self-reliance. But there was nothing of that as yet, and +all the little household rejoiced together. + +The spinning too had prospered. In the mornings and evenings, and on +rainy days, the wheel had been busy; and now the yarn, dyed and ready, +lay in the house of weaver McLean, waiting to be woven into heavy cloth +for the boys; and the flannel for shirts and gowns would not be long +behind. So Shenac made a pause, and took time to breathe, as Hamish +said. + +And, really, with a plentiful harvest gathered safely in, there seemed +little danger of want; and Shenac's thoughts were more hopeful than +anxious when she looked forward. The mother was more cheerful, too, +than she had been since the father's death. She was always cheerful +now, when matters went smoothly and regularly among them. It was only +when vexations arose, when Dan was restless or inclined to be +rebellious, or when the children stood in need of anything which they +could not get, or when she fancied that the affairs of the farm were not +going on well, that she grieved over the past or fretted for the +home-coming of Allister. The little ones went to school again after the +harvest--the little boys and Flora; and altogether matters seemed to +promise to move smoothly on, and so the mother was content. + +There was one thing that troubled the mother and Shenac too. The +harvest-work had been hard on Hamish, and in the haste and eagerness of +the busy time Shenac had not been so mindful of him as she might have +been, and he suffered for it afterwards; and it grieved them all that +his voice should be so seldom heard as it was among them, for Hamish +never complained. The more he suffered, the more quiet he grew. It was +not bodily pain alone with which he struggled on in silence. It was +something harder to bear--a sense of helplessness and uselessness, a +fear of becoming a burden when there was so much to bear already. And, +worse than even this, there was the knowledge that there lay no bright +future before him, as there might lie before the rest. He must always +be a helpless cripple. He could have no hope beyond the weary round of +suffering which fell to his lot day by day. What the others did with a +will, with a sense of power and pleasure, was a weariness to him. There +were times when he wished that death might come and end it all; but he +never spoke of himself, unless Shenac made him speak. His fits of +depression did not occur often, and Shenac came at last to think it was +better to let them pass without notice; and, though her eye grew more +watchful and her voice more tender, she said nothing for a while, but +waited patiently for more cheerful days. + + + +CHAPTER EIGHT. + +I dislike to speak about the faults of Shenac. It would be far +pleasanter to go on telling all that she did for her mother and brothers +and little Flora--how her courage never failed, and her patience and +temper very seldom; and how the neighbours looked on with wonder and +pleasure at all the young girl was able to accomplish by her sense and +energy, till they quite forgot that she was little more than a child-- +not sixteen when her father died--and spoke of her as a woman of +prudence and a credit to her family. She looked like a woman. She was +tall and strong. She seemed, indeed, to have the health and strength +which should have fallen to her twin-brother Hamish; and she was growing +to seem to all the neighbours much older than he. I suppose this change +would have come in any circumstances, after a while, for girls of +seventeen are generally more mature than boys of the same age; but the +change was more decided in Shenac because of the care that had fallen on +her so early. Still, they were alike. They had the same golden-brown +hair, though the brother's was of a darker shade, the same blue eyes, +and frank, open brow. But the eyes of Hamish had a weary look, and his +brow looked higher and broader because of the thin pale cheeks beneath +it; and while he grew more quiet and retiring every day, no one could +have been long in the house without seeing in many ways that Shenac was +the ruling spirit there. + +It was right it should be so. It could not have been otherwise, for her +mother was broken in health and spirits, and Allister was away. Hamish +was not able to take the lead in the labour, because of his lameness and +his feeble health; and though he had great influence in the family +councils, it was exercised indirectly, by quiet, sensible words, and by +a silent good example to the rest. + +As for Dan, his will was strong enough to command an army, and he had a +great deal of good sense hidden beneath a reckless manner; but he was +two years younger than his sister--quite too young and inexperienced, +even if he had been steady and industriously disposed, to take the lead. +So of course the leadership fell upon Shenac. + +They all said, after a while--the neighbours, I mean--that it could not +have fallen into better hands; and, as far as the family affairs were +concerned, that was true. But for Shenac herself it was not so well. +It is never well to take girls quickly out of their childhood, and it +was especially bad for her to have so much the guidance of these +affairs, for she naturally liked to lead--to have her own way; and, +without being at all conscious of it, there were times when she grew +sharp and arbitrary, expecting to be obeyed unquestioningly by them all. + +She was always gentle with the mother, who sometimes was desponding and +irritable, and needed a great deal of patient attendance; but even with +the mother she liked to have her own way. Generally, Shenac's way was +the best, to be sure; for the mother, weakened in mind and body, saw +difficulties in very trifling things, and fancied dangers and troubles +where the bright, cheerful spirit of her daughter saw none. So, though +she yielded in word, she often in deed gave less heed to the mother's +wishes than she ought to have done, and she was in danger, through this, +of growing less lovable as the years went on. + +But a sadder thing happened to Shenac than this. In the eagerness with +which she devoted herself to her work she forgot higher duties. For +there is a higher duty than that which a child owes to parents and +friends--the duty owed to God. I do not mean that these are distinct +and separate, or that they naturally and necessarily interfere with each +other. Quite the contrary. It is only as our duty to our Father in +heaven is understood and acknowledged that any other duty can be well or +acceptably performed. And so, in forgetting God, Shenac was in danger +of allowing her work to become a snare to her. + +Humbly acknowledging God in all her ways, asking and expecting and +waiting for his blessing in all that she undertook, she would hardly +have grown unduly anxious or arbitrary or heedless of her mother's wish +and will. Conscious of her own weakness, and leaning on eternal +strength, she would hardly have grown proud with success, or sinfully +impatient when her will was crossed. + +But in those long, busy summer days, Shenac said to herself she had no +time to think of other things than the work which each day brought. +They had worship always, morning and evening, whatever the hurry might +be. The Scriptures were read and a psalm was sung, and then the mother +or Hamish offered a few words of prayer. They would as soon have +thought of going without their morning and evening meals as without +worship. It would have been a godless and graceless house, indeed, +without that, in the opinion of those who had been accustomed to family +worship all their lives. + +Shenac was not often consciously impatient of the time it took, and her +voice was clearest and sweetest always in their song of praise. But too +often it was her voice only that rose to Heaven. Her heart was full of +other things; her thoughts often wandered to the field or the dairy, +even when the words of prayer or praise were on her lips. She lost the +habit of the few minutes' quiet reading of her Bible in the early +morning, and also before she went to bed; and her prayers were brief and +hurried, and sometimes they were forgotten altogether. She and Hamish +had always been fond of reading, and though few new books found their +way among them, they had gone over and over the old ones, liking them +chiefly because of the long talks to which they gave rise between them. + +Many of their favourite books were religious, and various were the +speculations as to doctrine and duty into which they used to fall. +There might have been some danger in this, had not a spirit of reverence +for God's authority been deep and strong within them. It was to the +infallible standard of the inspired volume that all things were brought. +With what is written there all theories and opinions were compared, and +received or rejected according as they agreed with or differed from the +voice of inspiration. I do not mean that they were always right in +their judgment, or that their speculations were not sometimes foolish +and vain. But their spirit was right. They sought to know the truth, +and, in a way, they helped each other to walk in it. + +But all this seemed past now. There was no time for reading or for +talking--at least Shenac had none. All day she was too busy, and at +night she was too weary. Even the long, quiet Sabbath-day was changed. +Not that there was work done on that day, either within or without the +house. I daresay there were many in the township who did not keep the +law of the Sabbath rest in spirit; but there were none in those days who +did not keep it in letter, in appearance. In the fields, which through +the week were the scenes of busy labour, on the Sabbath not a sound was +heard save in the pastures--the lowing of the cattle and the bleating of +the sheep. + +Few people made the labour of the week an excuse for turning the Sabbath +into a day of rest for the body only. The old hereditary respect for +God's day and house still prevailed among them, and the great, grey, +barn-like house of worship, which had been among the first built in the +settlement, was always filled to overflowing with a grave and reverent +congregation. + +But among them, during all that long summer, Shenac was seldom seen. +Her mother went when it was not too warm to walk the long three miles +that lay between their house and the kirk, or when she got a seat in a +neighbour's waggon; and Hamish and Dan were seldom away. But Shenac as +seldom went. + +"What is the use of going?" she said, in answer to her mother's +expostulations, "when I fall asleep the moment the text is given out. +It's easy to say I should pay attention to the sermon. The minister's +voice would put me to sleep if I were standing at the wheel. Sometimes +it takes the sound of the water, and sometimes of the wind; but it's +hush-a-by that it says to me all the time. And, mother, I think it's a +shame to sleep in the kirk, like old Donald or Elspat Smith. Somebody +must stay at home, and it may as well be me." + +I daresay it was not altogether the fault of the minister that Shenac +fell asleep, though his voice was a drowsy drone to many a one besides +her. The week's activity was quite sufficient to account for her +drowsiness, to say nothing of the bright sunshine streaming in through +ten uncurtained windows, and the air growing heavy with the breathing of +a multitude. Shenac tried stoutly, once and again; but it would not do. +The very earnestness with which she fixed her eyes on the kindly, +inanimate face of the minister hastened the slumber; and, touched by her +mother or Hamish, she would waken to see two or three pairs of laughing +eyes fastened upon her. Indeed she did think it a shame; but it was a +hard struggle listening to words which bore little interest, scarcely a +meaning, to her. So she stayed at home, and made the Sabbath-day a day +of rest literally; for as soon as the others were away, and her light +household tasks finished, she took her book and fell asleep, as surely, +and far more comfortably, than she did when she went to the kirk; so +that, as a day in which to grow wiser and better, the Sabbath was lost +to Shenac. + +She was by no means satisfied with herself because of this, for in her +heart she did not believe her weariness was a sufficient excuse for +staying away from the kirk; so whenever there was a meeting of any sort +in the school-house, which happened once a month generally, Shenac was +sure to be there. It was close by, and it was in the evening, and she +could take Flora and her little brothers, who could seldom go so far as +the kirk. + +"Shenac," said her cousin one day, "why were you not at the kirk last +Sabbath? Such a fine day as it was; and to think of your letting Hamish +go by himself!" + +"He did not go by himself; Dan went with him, and you came home with +him. And I did go to the kirk--at least I went to the school-house, +where old Mr Forbes preached," said Shenac. + +"Toch!" exclaimed Shenac Dhu scornfully; "do you call _that_ going to +the kirk? Yon poor old body--do you call _him_ a minister? They say he +used to make shoes at home. I'm amazed at you, Shenac! you that's held +up to the rest of us as a woman of sense!" + +Shenac Bhan laughed. + +"Oh, as to his making shoes, you mind Paul made tents; and his sermons +are just like other folk's sermons: I see no difference." + +"The texts are like other folk's, you mean," said Shenac Dhu slyly. "I +daresay you take a nap when he's preaching." + +"No," said Shenac Bhan, not at all offended; "that's just the +difference. I never sleep in the school-house. I suppose because it's +cool, and I have a sleep before I go," she added candidly. "But as for +the sermons, they are just like other folk's." + +"But that is nonsense," said Shenac Dhu. "He's just a common man, and +does not even preach in Gaelic." + +"But our Shenac would say Paul did not do that, nor Dr Chalmers, nor +plenty more," said Hamish, laughing. + +"Hamish," said Shenac Dhu severely, "don't encourage her in what is +wrong. Elder McMillan says it's wrong to go, and so does my father. +They don't even sing the Psalms, they say." + +"That's nonsense, at any rate," said Shenac Bhan. "The very last +Sabbath they sang,-- + + "`I to the hills will lift mine eyes.' + +"You can tell the elder that, and your father, if it will be any +consolation to them." + +"Our Shenac sang it," said little Hugh. "John Keith wasn't there, and +the minister himself began the tune of Dundee. You should have heard +him when he came to the high part." + +"I've heard him," said Shenac Dhu; and she raised her voice in a shrill, +broken quaver, that made them all laugh, though Shenac Bhan was +indignant too, and bade her cousin mind about the bears that tore the +mocking children. + +"But our Shenac sang it after, and me and little Flora," continued Hugh. +"And, Shenac, what was it that the minister said afterwards about the +new song?" + +But Shenac would have no more said about it. She cared very little for +Shenac Dhu's opinion, or for her father's either. She went to the +school whenever the old man held a meeting there, and took the children +with her. It was a great deal less trouble than taking them all so far +as to the kirk, she told her mother; and whatever the elder and Angus +Dhu might say, the old man's sermons were just like other folk's +sermons. + +About this time there came a letter from Allister. The tidings of his +father's death had reached him just as he was about to start for the +mining district with his cousin and others; he had entered into +engagements which made it necessary for him to go with them,--or he +thought so. He said he would return home as soon as possible; but for +the sake of all there he must not come till he had at least got gold +enough to pay the debt, so that he might start fair. He could not, at +so great a distance, advise his mother what to do; but he knew she had +kind friends and neighbours, who would not let things go wrong till he +came home, which would be at the earliest possible day. In the +meantime, he sent some money--not much, but all he had--and he begged +his mother to keep her courage up, for the sake of the children with +her, and for his sake who was far away. + +This letter had been so long in coming, that somehow they had fallen +into the way of thinking that there would be no letter, but that +Allister must be on his way; so, when Shenac got it, it was with many +doubts and fears that she carried it home to her mother. She dreaded +the effect this disappointment might have on her in her enfeebled state, +and shrank in dismay from a renewal of the scenes that had followed her +father's death and the burning of the house. + +But she need not have feared. It was indeed a disappointment to the +mother that the coming home of her son must be delayed, and she grieved +for a day or two. But everything went on just as usual, and gradually +she settled down contentedly to her spinning and knitting again; and you +may be sure that whatever troubles fell to the lot of Shenac, she did +not suffer her mother to be worried by them. + +And Shenac had many anxieties about this time. Of course she had none +peculiar to herself; that is, she had none which were not shared by +Hamish, and in a certain sense by Dan. But Hamish would have been +content with moderate things. Just to rub on as quietly and easily as +possible till Allister came home, was all he thought they should try to +do. And as for Dan, the future and its troubles lay very lightly on +him. + +But with Shenac it was different. That the hay and grain were safely in +was by no means enough to satisfy her. If Allister had been coming +soon, it might have been; but now there was the fall ploughing, and the +sowing of the wheat, and the flax must be broken and dressed, and the +winter's wood must be got up, and there were fifty other things that +ought to be done before the snow came. There was far more to do than +could be done by herself, or she would not have fretted. But when +Hamish told her to "take no thought for the morrow," and that she ought +to trust as well as work, she lost patience with him. And when Dan +quoted Angus Dhu, and spoke vaguely of what must be done in the spring, +quite losing sight of what lay ready at his hand to do, she nearly lost +patience with him too. Not quite, though. It was a perilous experiment +to try on Dan--a boy who might be led, but who would not be driven; and +many a time Shenac wearied herself with efforts so to arrange matters +that what fell to Dan to do might seem to be his own proposal, and many +a time he was suffered to do things in his own way, though his way was +not always the best, because otherwise there was some danger that he +would not do them at all. + +Not that Dan was a bad boy, or very wilful, considering all things. But +he was approaching the age when boys are supposed to see very clearly +their masculine superiority; and to be directed by a woman how to do a +man's work was more than a man could stand. + +If he could have been trusted, Shenac thought, she would gladly have +given up to him the guidance of affairs, and put herself at his disposal +to be directed. Perhaps she was mistaken in this. She enjoyed the +leadership. She enjoyed encountering and conquering difficulties. She +enjoyed astonishing (and, as she thought, disappointing) Angus Dhu; and +though she would have scorned the thought, she enjoyed the knowledge +that all the neighbours saw and wondered at, and gave her the credit of, +the successful summer's work. + +But her being willing or unwilling made no difference. Dan was not old +enough nor wise enough to be trusted with the management. The burden of +care must fall on her, and the burden of labour too; and she set herself +to the task with more intentness than ever when the letter came saying +that Allister was not coming home. + + + +CHAPTER NINE. + +It was a bright day in the end of September. Shenac had been busy at +the wheel all the morning, but the very last thread of their flannel was +spun now. The wheel was put away, and Shenac stood before her mother, +dressed in her black gown made for mourning when her father died. Her +mother looked surprised, for this gown was never worn except at church, +or when a visit was to be made. + +"Mother," said Shenac, "I have made ready the children's supper, and +filled the sacks in case Dan should want to go to the mill, and I want +to go over to see if Shenac and Maggie can come some day to help me with +the flax." + +The mother assented, well pleased, for it was a long time since Shenac +had gone to the house of Angus Dhu of her own will. + +"And, mother, maybe I'll go with Shenac as far as The Eleventh. It's a +long time since I have seen Mary Matheson, and I'll be home before +dark." + +"Well, well, go surely, if you like," said her mother; "and you might +speak to McLean about the flannel, and bespeak McCallum the tailor to +come as soon as he can to make the lads' clothes; and you might ask +about the shoes." + +"Yes, mother, I'll mind them all. I'll just speak to Hamish first, and +then I'll away." + +Hamish was in the garden digging and smoothing the ground where their +summer's potatoes had grown, because he had nothing else to do, he said, +and it would be so much done before the spring. Shenac seated herself +on the fence, and began pulling, one by one, the brown oak leaves that +hung low over it. There was no gate to the garden. It was doubtful +whether a gate could have been made with sufficient strength, or +fastened with sufficient ingenuity, to prevent the incursions of the +pigs and calves, which, now that the fields were clear from grain, were +permitted to wander over them at their will. So the garden was entered +by a sort of stile--a board was placed with one end on the ground, and +the other on the middle rail of the fence--and it was on this that +Shenac sat down. + +"Hamish," she said after a little, "what do you think of my asking John +Firinn to plough the land for the wheat--and to sow it too, for that +matter?" + +"I don't think you had better call him by _that_ name, if you want him +to do you a favour," said Hamish, laughing. "But why ask John Firinn of +all the folk in the world?" + +("Firinn" is the Gaelic name for "truth," and it was added to the name +of one of the many John McDonalds of the neighbourhood; not, I am sorry +to say, because he always spoke the truth, but because he did not.) + +Shenac laughed. + +"No; it's not likely. But I'm doing it for him because his wife has +been sick all the summer, and has not a thread of her wool spun yet, and +I am going to change work with them." + +"But, Shenac," said Hamish gravely, "does our mother know? I am sure +she will think you have enough to do at home, without going to spin at +John Firinn's." + +"I should not go there, of course; they must let me bring the wool home. +And there's no use in telling my mother till I see whether they'll +agree. It would only vex her. And, Hamish, it's all nonsense about my +having too much to do. There's only the potatoes; and Hugh can bide at +home from the school to gather them and the turnips, and Dan will be as +well pleased if I leave them to him. I am only afraid that he has been +fancying he is to plough, and he's not fit for it." + +"No, he's not fit for it," said Hamish. "But I don't like John Firinn. +Is there no one else?" + +"No; for if we speak to the Camerons or Angus Dhu, it will just be the +same as saying we want them to make a bee. I hate bees,--for us, I +mean. It was well enough when they all thought it was just for the +summer, and that then Allister would be home. But now we must do as +other folk do, and be independent. So I must speak to John. He's not +very trustworthy, I'm afraid; but that's maybe because few trust him. I +don't think he'll wrong my mother, if he promises to do the land." + +"Perhaps you are right, Shenac," said Hamish with a sigh. + +"But, Hamish," said Shenac eagerly, "_you_ could not do this work, even +if you were well and strong." She was not answering his words, but the +thoughts which she knew were in his heart. "Come with me, Hamish. It +will do you good, and it would be far better for you to make a bargain +with John Firinn than for me. Shenac yonder is going. Come with us, +Hamish." + +"No," said Hamish. "The children are at the school, and maybe Dan will +go to the mill; and my mother must not be left alone. And you are the +one to make the bargain about the spinning. I don't believe John will +be hard upon you; and if you are shamefaced, Shenac yonder will speak +for you." + +But Shenac did not intend her cousin to know anything about the matter +till it should be settled, though she did not tell her brother so. She +went away a little anxious and uncertain. For though she had been the +main dependence all summer for the work both in the house and in the +field, she had had very little to do with other people; and her heart +failed her at the thought of speaking to any one about their affairs, +especially to John Firinn. So it was with a slow step and a troubled +face that she took her way over the field to find her cousin. + +She had been a little doubtful all day whether she should find Shenac at +home and at liberty to go with her, but she never thought of finding +Shenac's father there. They were rolling--that is, clearing off--the +felled trees in Angus Dhu's farther field, she knew, and Shenac might be +there, and she thought that her father must be. She had not met Angus +Dhu face to face fairly since that May-day by the creek; that is, she +had never seen him unless some one else was present, and the thought of +doing so was not at all pleasant to her. So when, on turning the +corner, she saw his tall and slightly-bent figure moving towards her, in +her first surprise and dismay she had some thoughts of turning and +running away. She did not, however, but came straight on up the path. + +"I was not sure it was you, Shenac," was her uncle's greeting; "you are +seen here so rarely. It must be something more than common that brings +you from home to-day, you have grown such a busy woman." + +"I came for Cousin Shenac to go with me to Mary Matheson's, if she can +be spared. Is she at home to-day?" said Shenac, with some hesitation, +for she would far rather have made her request to Shenac's mother. + +"Oh yes, she's at home. Go into the house. I daresay her mother will +spare her." And he repeated a Gaelic proverb, which being translated +into English would mean something like, "All work and no play makes Jack +a dull boy." Shenac smiled to herself as she thought of her mother's +many messages and her dreaded mission to John Firinn. It did not seem +much like play to her. + +But burdens have a way of slipping easily from young shoulders, and the +two Shenacs went on their way cheerily enough, and I daresay a stranger +meeting them might have fancied that our Shenac was the lighter-hearted +of the two. The cloud fell again, however, when they came to the turn +of the road that took them to Mary Matheson's. + +"I have to go down to the McDonalds', Shenac. Just go on, and I will +follow you in two or three minutes." + +"To the McDonalds'!" repeated Shenac Dhu. "Not to John Firinn's surely? +What in all the world can you have to do with him? You had better take +me with you, Shenac. They say John has a trick of forgetting things +sometimes. You might need me for a witness." + +Shenac Bhan laughed and shook her head. + +"There's no need. Go on to Mary's, and tell her I am coming. I shall +not be long." + +She wished heartily that Hamish had been with her, or that she could +have honestly said her mother had sent her; for it seemed to her that +she was taking too much upon her to be trying to make a bargain with a +man like John Firinn. There was no help for it now, however, and she +knocked at the door, and then lifted the latch and went in with all the +courage she could summon. + +She did not need her courage for a little time, however; but her tact +and skill in various matters--her "faculty," as Mr Rugg called it-- +stood her in good stead for the next half-hour. + +Seated on a low chair, looking ill and harassed, was poor Mrs McDonald, +with a little wailing baby on her knee, and her other little ones +clustering round her, while her husband, the formidable John himself, +was doing his best to prepare dinner for all of them. It was long past +dinner-time, and it promised to be longer still before these little +hungry mouths would be stopped by the food their father was attempting +to prepare. For he was unaccustomed and inexpert, and it must have +added greatly to the sufferings of his wife to see his blundering +movements, undoing with one hand what he did with the other, and using +his great strength where only a little skill was needed. Shenac +hesitated a moment, and then advanced to Mrs McDonald. + +"Are you no better? Can I do anything for you?--Let me do that," she +added hastily, as she saw the success of the dinner put in jeopardy by +an awkward movement of the incompetent cook. In another moment Shenac's +black dress was pinned up, and soon the dinner was on the table, and the +father and children were seated at it. To her husband's entreaty that +she would try and eat something, the poor woman did not yield. She was +flushed and feverish, and evidently in great pain. + +"I am afraid you are in pain," said Shenac, as she turned to her, +offering to take the baby. + +"Yes; I let my sister go home too soon, and what with one thing and +another, I am nearly as bad as ever again." And she pressed her hand on +her breast as she spoke. + +A few more words told the state of the case, and in a little time the +pain was relieved by a warm application, and the weary woman lay down to +rest. Then there was some porridge made for the baby. Unsuitable food +it seemed, but the little creature ate it hungrily, and was soon asleep. +Then the kettle was boiled, and the poor woman surprised herself and +delighted Shenac by drinking a cup of tea and eating a bit of toasted +bread with relish. Then her hands and face were bathed, and her cap +straightened, and she declared herself to be much better, as indeed it +was easy to see she was. Then Shenac cleared the dinner-things away and +swept the hearth, the husband and wife looking on. + +When all this was done, Shenac did not think it needed so much courage +to make her proposal about the change of work. Mrs McDonald looked +anxiously at her husband, who had listened without speaking. + +"I think I could spin it to please you," said Shenac. "My mother is +pleased with ours, though she did not like the big wheel at first; and +you can speak to weaver McLean. I don't think he has had much trouble +with the weaving. I would do my best." + +"Could you come here and do it?" asked John. "Because, if you could, it +would be worth while doing the ploughing just to see you round, let +alone the wool." + +Shenac shook her head. She was quite too much in earnest to notice the +implied compliment. + +"No; that would be impossible. I could not be away from home. My +mother could not spare me. She is not so strong as she used to be. But +I would soon do it at home. Our work is mostly over now. Our land does +much the best with the fall wheat, and the wheat is our main +dependence." + +"I'm rather behind with my own work," began John; "and I heard something +said about the Camerons doing your field, with some help." + +"Oh, a bee," said Shenac. "But that is just what I will not have. I +don't want to seem ungrateful. All the neighbours have been very kind," +she added humbly. "But now that Allister is not coming home, we must +carry on the place by ourselves, or give it up. We must not be +expecting too much from our neighbours, or they will tire of us. And I +don't want a bee; though everybody has been very kind to us in our +trouble." + +She was getting anxious and excited. + +"Bees are well enough in their way," said Mrs McDonald. "And some of +the neighbours were saying they would gather one to help me with the +wool. But, John, man, if you could do this for the widow Macivor, I +would far rather let Shenac do the wool." + +"I would do it well," said Shenac. "I would begin to-morrow." + +"But if you were to do the wool, and then something was to happen that I +could not plough or sow the field, what then?" asked John gravely. + +Shenac looked at him, but said nothing. + +"What could happen, John, man?" said his wife. + +"We could have it written down, however," said John, "and that would +keep us to our bargain. Should we have it written down, Shenac?" + +"If you like," said Shenac gravely; "but there is no need. I would +begin the wool to-morrow, and do it as soon as I could." + +"Oh ay, oh ay! but you might need the bit of writing to bind _me_, +Shenac, my wise woman. I might slip out of it when the wool was done." + +"John, man!" remonstrated his wife. + +"You would never do that," said Shenac quietly. "If you wished to do +it, a paper would not hold you to it. I don't see the use of a writing; +but if you want one I don't care, of course." + +But neither did John care, and so they made the bargain. John was to +charge the widow a certain sum for the work to be done, and Shenac was +to be allowed the usual price for a day's work of spinning; and it was +thought that when the wool was spun and the field ploughed and sowed, +they would be about even. There might be a little due on one side or +the other, but it would not be much. + +"Well then, it's all settled," said Shenac, and she did not attempt to +conceal her satisfaction. + +It came into John's mind that being settled was one thing and being done +was quite another; but he did not say so. He said to himself, as he saw +Shenac busy about his wife and child,-- + +"If there is a way to put that wheat in better than wheat was ever put +in before, I shall find it out and do it." + +He said the same to his wife, as together they watched her running down +the road to meet Shenac Dhu. + +"What in the world kept you so long?" asked her cousin. "Have you been +hearkening to one of John Firinn's stories? Better not tell it again. +What made you bide so long?" + +"Do you know how ill the wife has been?" asked Shenac Bhan. Then she +told how she found the poor woman suffering, and about the children and +their dinner, and so was spared the necessity of telling what her +business with John had been. + +Greatly to the surprise of Angus Dhu and all the neighbours, in due time +John McDonald brought his team into the widow Macivor's field. Many +were the prophecies brought by Dan to Hamish and Shenac as to the little +likelihood there was of his doing the work to the satisfaction of all +concerned. + +"It will serve you right too, Shenac," said the indignant Dan. "To +think of a girl like you fancying you could make a bargain with a man +like John Firinn!" + +"Is it Angus Dhu that is concerned, and the Camerons?" asked Shenac. +"It's a pity they shouldn't be satisfied. But if the work is done to +please the mother and Hamish and me, they'll need to content themselves, +I doubt, Dannie, my lad." + +"Johnnie Cameron said they were just going to call a bee together and do +it up in a day or two; and then it would have been done right, and you +would have been saved three weeks' spinning besides." + +"We're obliged to the Camerons all the same," said Shenac a little +sharply. "But if it had needed six weeks' spinning instead of three, it +would please me better to do it than to trouble the Camerons or anybody. +Why should we need help more than other folk?" she added impatiently. +"I'm ashamed of you, Dan, with your bees." + +"Well, I'll tell them what you say, and you'll not be troubled with +their offers again, I can tell you," said Dan sulkily. + +"You'll do nothing of the kind," said Hamish. "Nonsense, Dan, my lad; +Shenac is right, and she's wrong too. She's right in thinking the less +help we need the better; but she should not speak as though she did not +thank the neighbours for their wishing to help us." + +"Oh, I'm very thankful," said Shenac, dropping a mocking courtesy to +Dan. "But I'm not half so thankful for their help as I am for the +chance to spin John Firinn's wool. And Dan can tell the Camerons what +he likes. I'm not caring; only don't let us hear any more of their bees +and their prophecies." + +Lightly as Shenac spoke of the spinning of the wool, it was no light +work to do. For her mother was not pleased that she had undertaken it +without her knowledge and consent, and fretted, and cast difficulties in +the way, till Shenac, more harassed and unhappy than she had ever been +before, offered to break the bargain and send back the wool. Her mother +did not insist on this, however, and Shenac span on in the midst of her +murmurings. Then Hamish took the mother away to visit her sister in the +next township, and during their absence Shenac kept little Flora away +from the school to do such little things as she could do about the +house, and finished the wool by doing six days' work in three, and then +confessed to Dan in confidence, that she was as tired as she ever wished +to be. + +She need not have hurried so much, for mother came home quite reconciled +to the spinning--indeed a little proud of all that had been said in +Shenac's praise when the matter was laid before the friends they had +been to see. So she said, as Mrs McDonald was far from well yet, she +would dye her worsted for her; and Shenac was glad to rest herself with +the pleasant three miles' walk to give the message and get directions. + +Shenac's part of the bargain was fulfilled in spirit and letter; and +certainly nothing less could be said as to the part of John Firinn. +Even Angus Dhu and John Cameron, who kept sharp eyes on him during his +work, had no fault to find with the way in which it was done. It was +done well and in the right time, and it was with satisfaction quite +inexpressible that Shenac looked over the smooth field and listened to +her mother's congratulations that this was one good job well and timely +done. Ever after that she was John McDonald's fast friend, and the +friend of his sickly wife. No one ever ventured to speak a +disrespectful word of John before her; and the successful sowing of the +wheat-field was by no means the last piece of work he did, and did well, +for the widow and her children. + + + +CHAPTER TEN. + +Winter set in early that year, but not too early for Shenac and her +brothers. The winter preparations had all been made before the +delightful stormy morning came, when Hugh and Colin and little Flora +chased one another round and round in the door-yard, making many paths +in the new-fallen snow. The house had been banked up with earth, and +every crack and crevice in the roof and walls closed. The garden had +been dug and smoothed as if the seeds were to be sown the next day. The +barn and stable were in perfect order. The arrangements for tying up +oxen and cows, which are always sure to get out of order in summer, had +been made anew, and the farming-tools gathered safely under cover. + +These may seem little things; but the comfort of many a household has +been interfered with because such little things have been neglected. +What may be done at any time is very often left till the right time is +past, and disorder and discomfort are sure to follow. I daresay the +early snow fell that year on many a plough left in the furrow, and on +many a hoe and spade left in garden or yard. But all was as it should +be at Mrs Macivor's. + +In summer, when a long day's work in the field was the order of things, +when those who were strong and able were always busy, it seemed to +Hamish that he was of little use. This was a mistake of his. He was of +great use in many ways, even when he went to the field late and left it +early; for though Shenac took the lead in work and planning, she was +never sure that her plans were wise, or even practicable, till she had +talked them over with Hamish. She would have lost patience with Dan and +the rest, and with her mother even, if she had not had Hamish to "empty +her heart to." But even Shenac, though she loved her brother dearly, +and valued his counsels and sympathy as something which she could not +have lived and laboured without--even she did not realise how much of +their comfort depended on the work of his weak hands. It was Hamish who +banked the house and made the garden; it was he who drove nails and +filled cracks, who gathered up tools and preserved seeds, quietly doing +what others did not do and remembering what others forgot. It was +Hamish who cared for the creatures about the place; it was he who made +and mended and kept in order many things which it would have cost money +to get or much inconvenience to go without. So it may be said that it +was owing to Hamish that the early snow did not find them unprepared. + +A grave matter was under discussion within-doors that morning while +little Flora and her brothers were chasing each other through the snow. +It was whether Dan was to go to the school that winter. It was seldom +that any but young children could go to school in the summer-time, the +help of the elder ones being needed in the field as soon as they were +old enough to help. But in the winter few young people thought +themselves too old to go to school while the teacher could carry them +on. Hamish and Shenac had gone up to the time of their father's death. +But as for Dan, he thought himself old enough now to have done with +school. He had never been, in country phrase, "a good scholar?"--that +is, he had never taken kindly to his books--a circumstance which seemed +almost like disgrace in the eyes of Shenac; and she was very desirous +that he should get the good of this winter, especially as they were to +have a new teacher, whose fame had preceded him. Dan was taking it for +granted that he was the mainstay at home, and that for him school was +out of the question. But the rest thought differently; and it was +decided, much to his discontent, that when the winter's wood was +brought, to school he must go. + +Great was his disgust--so great that he began to talk about going to the +woods with the lumberers; at which Shenac laughed, but Hamish looked +grave, and bade him think twice before he gave his mother so sore a +heart as such a word as that would do. Dan did think twice, and said +nothing more about the woods. His going to school, however, did not do +him much good in the way of learning, but it did in the way of +discipline. At any rate, it left him less idle time than he would +otherwise have had; and though his boyish mischief vexed Shenac often, +things might have been worse with Dan, as Hamish said, and little harm +was done. + +Winter is a pleasant time in a country farm-house. In our country the +summers are so short, and so much work must be crowded into them, that +there is little time for any enjoyment, save that of doing well what is +to be done, and watching the successful issue. But in winter there is +leisure--leisure for enjoyment of various kinds, visiting, sewing, +singing; and it is generally made the most of. + +As for Shenac, the feeling that all the summer's work was successfully +ended, that the farm-products were safely housed beyond loss, gave her a +sense of being at leisure, though her hands were full of work, and would +be for a long time yet. The fulled cloth and the flannel came home. +The tailor came for a week to make the lads' clothes, and she helped him +with them; and tailor McCallum, though as a general thing rather +contemptuous of woman's help, acknowledged that she helped him to +purpose. + +A great deal may be learned by one who begins by thinking nothing too +difficult to learn; and Shenac's stitching and button-holes were +something to wonder at before the tailor's visit was over. + +Then came Katie Matheson to help with the new gowns. Shenac felt +herself quite equal to these, but, as Shenac Dhu insisted, "Katie had +been at M--- within the year, and knew the fashions;" so Katie came for +a day or two. Of this wish to follow the fashion, the mother was +inclined to speak severely; for what had young folk with their bread to +win to do with the fashions of the idle people of the world? But even +the mother did not object to following them when she found the wide, +useless sleeves, so much sought after by foolish young girls, giving +place to the small coat-sleeves which had been considered the thing in +her own and her mother's youth. They were, as she said, far more +sensible-like, and a saving besides. The additional width which Katie +quietly appropriated to Shenac's skirt would have been declared a piece +of sinful extravagance, if the mother had known of it before Shenac was +turning round, from one to another, to be admired with the new dress on. +She did cry out at the length. Why the stocking could only just be +seen above the shoe tied round the slender ankle! There was surely no +call to waste good cloth by making the skirt so long. "Never mind," +said Katie: "Flora's should be all the shorter;" and by that means +little Flora was in the fashion too. + +I daresay Shenac's pleasure in her new dress might have awakened +amusement, perhaps contempt, among young people to whom new dresses are +not so rare a luxury. But never a young belle of them all could have +the same right to take pleasure and pride in silk or satin as Shenac had +to be proud of her simple shepherd's plaid. She had shorn the wool, and +spun and dyed it with her own hands. She had made it too, with Katie's +help; and never was pleasure more innocent or more unmixed than hers, as +she stood challenging admiration for it from them all. + +Indeed, both the dress and the wearer might have successfully challenged +admiration from a larger and less interested circle than that--at least, +so thought the new master, who came in with Hamish while the affair was +in progress. He had seen prettier faces, and nicer dresses too, it is +to be supposed; but he had certainly never seen anything prettier or +nicer than Shenac's innocent pride and delight in her own handiwork. + +Shenac Dhu gave the whole a finishing touch as she drew round her +cousin's not very slender waist a black band fastened with a silver +clasp--an heirloom in the family since the time that the Macivors used +to wear the Highland garb among their native hills. + +"Now walk away and let us see you," said she, giving her a gentle push. + +Shenac minced and swung her skirts as she moved, as little children do +when they are playing "fine ladies." Even her mother could not help +laughing, it was so unlike the busy, anxious Shenac of the last few +months. + +"Is she not a vain creature?" said Shenac Dhu. "No wonder that you look +at her that way, Hamish, lad." + +The eyes of Hamish shone with pride and pleasure as they followed his +sister. + +"Next year I'll weave it myself," said Shenac, coming back again. "You +need not laugh, Shenac Dhu. You'll see." + +"Yes, I daresay. And where will you get your loom?" And Shenac Dhu put +up both hands and made-believe to cut her hair. Shenac Bhan shook her +head at her. + +"I can learn to weave; you'll see. Anybody can learn anything if they +try," said Shenac. + +"Except the binomial theorem," said Hamish, laughing. + +His sister shook her head at him too. Charmed with the "new kind of +arithmetic" which Mr Rugg had brought, yet not enjoying any pleasure to +the full unless his sister enjoyed it with him, Hamish had tried to +beguile her into giving her spare hours to the study. But Shenac's mind +was occupied with other things, and, rather scornful of labour which +seemed to come to nothing, she had given little heed to it. + +"I could learn that too, but what would be the good of it?" asked +Shenac. + +"Ask the master," said Hamish. + +"Well?" said Shenac, turning to Mr Stewart. + +"Do you mean what is the good of algebra, or what would be the good of +it to you?" asked Mr Stewart. + +"What would be the good of it to me? I can never have any use for the +like of that." + +"The discipline of learning it might be good for you," said Mr Stewart. +"I once heard a lady say that her knowledge of Euclid had helped her to +cut and make her children's clothes." + +Shenac laughed. + +"I daresay Katie here could have taught her more about it with less +trouble." + +"I daresay you are right," said the master. "And the discipline of the +wheel and the loom, and of household care, may be far better than the +discipline of study to prepare you for life and what it may bring you. +I am sure this gown, for instance," he added, laying his finger on the +sleeve, "has been worth far more to you already than the money it would +bring. I mean the patience and energy expended on it will be of far +more value to you; for you know these good gifts, well bestowed, leave +the bestower all the richer for the giving." + +"I don't know how that may be," said Shenac, "but I know I would rather +have this gown of my own making than the prettiest one that Katie has +made for twelve months." + +I do not know how I came to speak of the winter as a season of leisure +in connection with Shenac, for this winter was a very busy time with +her. True, her work did not press upon her, so as to make her anxious +or impatient, as it sometimes used to do in summer; but she was never +idle. There were sewing and housework and a little wool-spinning, and +much knitting of stockings and mittens for them all. The knitting was +evening work, and, when Hamish was not reading aloud, Shenac's hands and +eyes were busy with different matters. She read while she knitted, and +enjoyed it greatly, much to her own surprise, for, as she told Hamish, +she thought she had given up caring about anything but to work and to +get on. + +They had more books than usual this winter, and more help to understand +them, so that instead of groping on alone, sometimes right and sometimes +wrong, Hamish made great progress; and wherever Hamish was, Shenac was +not far away. It was a very quiet winter in one way--there was not much +visiting here and there. Hamish was not fit for that. Shenac went +without him sometimes now. She was young, and her mind being at ease, +she took pleasure in the simple, innocent merry-makings of the place. +She was content to leave Hamish when she did not have to leave him +alone, which rarely happened now. The master lived in the house of +Angus Dhu, but it seemed that the humbler home of the widow and the +company of Hamish suited him best, for scarcely two evenings passed +without finding him there; and Shenac could go with a good heart, +knowing that her brother was busy and happy at home. + +Afterwards, when changes came, and new anxieties and cares pressed upon +her, Shenac used to look back on this winter as the happiest time of her +life. It was not merely that the summer's work had been successful, but +that the summer's success seemed to make all their future secure. There +was no doubt now about their being able to keep together and carry on +the farm. That was settled. She was at rest--they were all at rest-- +about that. Their future did not depend now upon Allister's uncertain +coming home. It would not be true to say she saw no difficulties in the +way; but she saw none to daunt her. Even Dan seemed to have come to +himself. He seemed to have forgotten his self-assertion--his +"contrariness," as Shenac called it--and was a boy again, noisy and full +of fun, but gentle and helpful too. The little ones were well and +happy, and getting on well in school, as all the Macivors were bound to +do. The mother was comparatively well and cheerful. Her monotonous +flax-spinning filled up the quiet, uneventful days, and, untroubled by +out-door anxieties, she was content. + +But, in looking back over this happy time, it was to Hamish that +Shenac's thoughts most naturally turned, for it was the happiness of her +twin-brother, more than all the rest put together, that made the +happiness of Shenac. And Hamish was happier, more like himself, than +ever he had been since their troubles began. Not so merry, perhaps, as +the Hamish of the former days; but he was happy, that was sure. He was +far from well, and he sometimes suffered a good deal; but his illness +was not of a kind to alarm them for his life, and unless he had been +exposed in some way, or a sudden change of the weather brought on his +old rheumatic pains, he was, on the whole, comfortable in health. But +whether he suffered or not, he was happy, that was easily seen. There +was no sitting silent through the long gloamings now, no weary drooping +of his head upon his hands, no wearier struggle to look up and join in +the household talk of the rest. There were no heart-sick broodings over +his own helplessness, no murmurings as to the burden he might yet +become. He did not often speak of his happiness in words, just as he +had seldom spoken of his troubles; but every tone of his gentle voice +and every glance of his loving eye spoke to the heart of his sister, +filling it with content for his sake. + +What was the cause of the change? what was the secret of her brother's +peace? Shenac wondered and wondered. She knew it was through his +friend, Mr Stewart, that her brother's life seemed changed; but, +knowing this, she wondered none the less. What was his secret power? +What could Hamish see in that plain, dark man, so grave and quiet, so +much older than he? + +True, they had the common tie of a love of knowledge, and pored together +over lines and figures and strange books as though they would never grow +weary of it all. It was true that, more than any one had ever done +before, the master had opened new paths of knowledge to the eager lad-- +that by a few quiet words he put more life and heart into a subject than +others could do by hours and hours of talk. But all these things Shenac +shared and enjoyed without being able to understand how, through the +master, a new and peaceful influence seemed to have fallen on the life +of Hamish. + +She did not grudge it to him. She was not jealous of the new interest +that had come to brighten her brother's life--at least at this time she +was not. Afterwards, when new cares and vexations pressed upon her, she +vexed herself with the thought that something had come between her +brother and herself which made her troubles not so much his as they used +to be, and she blamed this new friendship for the difference. But no +such thoughts vexed these first pleasant months. + +Hamish was indeed changed. Unrealised at first by himself, the most +wonderful change that can come between the cradle and the grave had +happened to him. He had found a secret spring of peace, hidden as yet +from his sister's eyes. He had obtained a staff to lean on, which made +his weakness stronger than her strength; and this had come to him +through the master. There was a bond between the friends, stronger, +sweeter, and more enduring than even that which united the twin brother +and sister--the BOND OF BROTHERHOOD IN CHRIST. On Norman Stewart had +been conferred the highest of all honours; to him had been given the +chief of all happiness. Through _his_ voice the voice of Jesus had +spoken peace to a troubled soul. To him it had been given so to hold +forth the word of life that to a soul sitting in darkness a great light +sprang up. + +I cannot tell you how it came about, except that the heart of the master +being full of love to Christ, it could not but overflow in loving words +from his lips. Attracted first to Hamish by the patience and gentleness +with which he suffered, he could not do otherwise than seek to lead him +to the Great Healer; and his touch was life. Then all the shadows that +had darkened the past and the future to the lame boy fled away. +Gradually all the untoward circumstances of his life seemed to adjust +themselves anew. His lameness, his suffering, his helplessness were no +longer parts of a mystery, darkening all the future to him, but parts of +a plan through which something better than a name and a place in the +world might be obtained. Little by little he came to know himself to be +one of God's favoured ones; and then he would not have turned his hand +to win the lot that all his life had seemed the most desirable to him. +Before his friend he saw such a life--a life of labour for the highest +of all ends. Before himself he saw a life of suffering, a narrow sphere +of action, helplessness, dependence; but he no longer murmured. He was +coming to know, through the new life given him, how that "to do God's +will is sweet, and to bear God's will is sweet--the one as sweet as the +other, to those to whom he reveals himself;" and to have learned this is +to rejoice for evermore. + +The master's term of office came to an end, and the friends were to +part. It was June by this time; and when he had bidden all the rest +goodbye, Mr Stewart lingered still with Hamish at the gate. Hamish had +said something about meeting again, and the master answered,-- + +"Yes, surely we shall meet again--if not here, yonder;" and he pointed +upward. "We shall be true friends there, Hamish, bhodach; be sure of +that." + +Tears that were not all sorrowful stood on the cheeks of Hamish, and he +laid his face down on the master's shoulder without speaking. + +"Much may lie between us and that time," continued the master--"much to +do, and, it may be, much to suffer; but it is sure to come." + +"For me, too," murmured Hamish. "They also serve who only wait." + +"Yes," said the master; "they who wait are blessed." + +"And I shall thank God all my life that he sent you here to me," said +Hamish. + +"And I too," said the master. "It seemed to me an untoward chance +indeed that turned me aside from the path I had chosen and sent me here, +and the good Father has put my doubts and fears to shame, in that he has +given me you, and, through you, others, to be stars in my crown of +rejoicing against that day. God bless you! Farewell." + +"God bless you, and farewell," echoed Hamish. + +So Mr Stewart went away, and Hamish watched till he was out of sight, +and still stood long after that, till Shenac came to chide him for +lingering out in the damp, and drew him in. She did not speak to him. +There were tears on his cheek, she thought, and her own voice failed +her. But when they came to the light the tears were gone, but the look +of peace that had rested on his face all these months rested on it +still. + + + +CHAPTER ELEVEN. + +The happy winter drew to an end, and spring came with some pleasures and +many cares. I am not going to tell all about what was done this spring +and summer; it would take too long. Shenac and her brother had not the +same eagerness and excitement in looking forward to the summer's work +that they had had the spring before; but they had some experience, and +were not afraid of failure. The spring work was well done, and with +comparatively little help. The garden was made, and the first crop of +weeds disposed of from some of the beds; and Shenac was beginning to +look forward to the little pause in outdoor work that was to give her +time for the wool again, when something happened. It was something +which Shenac declared delighted her more than anything that had happened +for a long time; and yet it filled her with dismay. An uncle, a brother +of their mother, who resided in the neighbourhood of the C--- Springs, +celebrated for their beneficial effects on persons troubled with +rheumatic complaints, sent for Hamish to pass the rest of the summer at +his house. The invitation was urgent. Hamish would be sure to get much +benefit from the use of the baths, and would return home before winter, +a new man. + +Hamish alone hesitated; all the rest declared that he must go, and none +more decidedly than Shenac. In the first delighted moment, she thought +only of the good that Hamish was to get, and not at all of how they were +to get on without him. She did not draw back when she thought of it, +but worked night and day to get his things ready before the appointed +time. + +I do not know whether the union between twins is more tender and +intimate than that between other brothers and sisters, but when Hamish +went away it seemed to Shenac that half her heart had gone with him. +The house seemed desolate, the garden and fields forsaken. Her longing +for a sight of his face was unspeakable. + +All missed him. A strange silence seemed to fall upon the household. +They had hardly missed the master, in the bustle that had preceded the +going away of Hamish; but now they missed them both. The quiet grew +irksome to Dan, and he used in the evenings to go elsewhere--to Angus +Dhu's or the Camerons'--thus leaving it all the quieter for the rest. +The mother fretted a little for the lame boy, till a letter came telling +that he had arrived safe and well, and not very tired; and then she was +content. + +As for Shenac, she betook herself with more energy than ever to her +work. She did not leave herself time to be lonely. It was just the +first moment of coming into the house and the sitting down at meals that +she found unbearable. For the first few days her appetite quite failed +her--a thing that had never happened within her memory before. But try +as she might, the food seemed to choke her. There was nothing for it +but to work, within doors or without, till she was too weary to stand, +and then go to bed. + +And, indeed, there was plenty to do. Not too much, however, Shenac +thought--though having the share of Hamish added to her own made a great +difference. But she would not have minded the work if only Dan had been +reasonable. She had said to herself often, before Hamish went away, +that she would be ten times more patient and watchful over herself than +ever she had been before, and that Dan should have no excuse from her +for being wilful and idle. It had come into her mind of late that Angus +Dhu had not been far wrong when he said Dan was a wild lad, and she had +said as much to Hamish. But Hamish had warned her from meddling with +Dan. + +"You must trust him, and show that you trust him, Shenac, if you would +get any good out of him. He is just at the age to be uneasy, and to +have plans and ways of his own, having no one to guide him. We must +have patience with Dan a while." + +"If patience would do it," said Shenac sadly. + +But she made up her mind that, come what might, she would watch her +words and her actions too with double care till Hamish came home again. +She was very patient with Dan, or she meant to be so; but she had a +great many things pressing on her at this time, and it vexed her beyond +measure when he, through carelessness or indifference to her wishes, let +things intrusted to him go wrong. She had self-command enough almost +always to refrain from speaking while she was angry, but she could not +help her vexed looks; and the manner in which she strove to mend +matters, by doing with her own hands what he had done imperfectly or +neglected altogether, angered Dan far more than words could have done. + +They missed the peace-maker. Oh, how Shenac missed him in all things +where Dan was concerned! She had not realised before how great had been +the influence of Hamish over his brother, or, indeed, over them all. A +laughing remark from Hamish would do more to put Dan right than any +amount of angry expostulation or silent forbearance from her. Oh, how +she missed him! How were they to get through harvest-time without him? + +"Mother," said Dan, as he came in to his dinner one day, "have you any +message to The Sixteenth? I am going over to McLay's raising +to-morrow." + +"But, Dan, my lad, the barley is losing; and, for all that you could do +at the putting up of the barn, it hardly seems worth your while to go so +far," said his mother. + +Shenac had not come in yet, but Shenac Dhu, who had come over on a +message, was there. + +"Oh, I have settled that, mother. The Camerons and Sandy McMillan are +coming here in the morning. The barley will be all down by dinner-time, +and they'll take their dinner here, and we'll go up together." + +"But, Dan, lad, they have barley of their own. What will Shenac say? +Have you spoken to your sister about it?" asked his mother anxiously. + +"Oh, what about Shenac?" said Dan impatiently. "They will be glad to +come. What's a short forenoon to them? And I believe Shenac hates the +sight of one and all. What's the use of speaking to her?" + +"Did you tell them that when you asked them?" said Shenac Dhu dryly. + +"I haven't asked them yet," said Dan. "But what would they care for a +girl like Shenac, if I were to tell?" + +"Try and see," said Shenac Dhu. "You're a wise lad, Dan, about some +things. Do you think it's to oblige you that Sandy McMillan is hanging +about here and bothering folk with his bees and his bees? Why, he would +go fifty miles and back again, any day of his life, for one glance from +your sister's eye. Don't fancy that folk are caring for _you_, lad." + +"Shenac Dhu, my dear," said her aunt in a tone of vexation, "don't say +such foolish things, and put nonsense into the head of a child like our +Shenac." + +"Well, I won't, aunt; indeed I dare not," said Shenac Dhu, laughing, as +at that moment Shenac Bhan came in. + +"Shenac, what kept you?" said her mother fretfully. "Your dinner is +cold. See, Dan has finished his." + +"I could not help it, mother," said Shenac, sitting down. "It was that +Sandy McMillan that hindered me. He offered to come and help us with +the barley." + +"And what did you say to him?" asked Shenac Dhu demurely. + +"Oh, I thanked him kindly," said Shenac, with a shrug of her shoulders. + +"I must see him. Where is he, Shenac?" said Dan. "He must come +to-morrow, and the Camerons, and then we'll go to the raising together. +Is he coming to-morrow?" + +"No," said Shenac sharply; "I told him their own barley was as like to +suffer for the want of cutting as ours. When we want him we'll send for +him." + +"But you did not anger him, Shenac, surely?" said her mother. + +"No; I don't think it. I'm not caring much whether I did or not," said +Shenac. + +"Anger him!" cried Dan. "You may be sure she did. She's as grand as if +she were the first lady in the country." + +This was greeted by a burst of merry laughter from the two Shenacs. +Even the mother laughed a little, it was so absurd a charge to bring +against Shenac. Dan looked sheepishly from one to the other. + +"Well, it's not me that says it," said Dan angrily; "plenty folk think +that of our Shenac.--And you had no business to tell him not to come, +when I had spoken to him." + +"What will Sandy care for a girl like Shenac?" asked his cousin +mockingly. + +"Well, _I_ care," persisted Dan. "She's always interfering and having +her own way about things--and--" + +"Whisht, Dan, lad," pleaded the mother. + +"I didn't know that you had spoken to Sandy--not that it would have made +any difference, however," added Shenac candidly. + +"And, Dan, you don't suppose any one will care for what a girl like +Shenac Bhan may say. He'll come all the same to please you," said +Cousin Shenac. + +"Whether he comes or not, I'm going to McLay's raising," said Dan +angrily. "Shenac's not _my_ mistress, yet a while." + +"Whisht, Dan; let's have no quarrelling," pleaded the mother.--"Why do +you vex him?" she continued, as Dan rushed out of the room. + +"I did not mean to vex him, mother," said Shenac gently. + +This was only one of many vexatious discussions that had troubled their +peace during the summer. Sometimes Shenac's conscience acquitted her of +all blame; but, whether it did or not, she always felt that if Hamish +had been at home all this might have been prevented. She did not know +how to help it. Sometimes her mother blamed her more than was quite +fair for Dan's fits of wilfulness and idleness, and she longed for +Hamish to be at home again. + +Dan went to the raising, and, I daresay, was none the better for the +companionship of the offended Sandy. Shenac stayed at home and worked +at the barley till it grew dark. She even did something at it when the +moon rose, after her mother had gone to bed; but she herself was in bed +and asleep before Dan came, so there was nothing more said at that time. + +The harvest dragged a little, but they got through with it in a +reasonable time. There were more wet weather and more anxiety all +through the season than there had been last year; but, on the whole, +they had reason to be thankful that it had ended so well. Shenac was by +no means so elated as she had been last year. She was very quiet and +grave, and in her heart she was beginning to ask herself whether Angus +Dhu might not have been right, and whether she might not have better +helped her mother and all of them in some other way. They had only just +raised enough on the farm to keep them through the year, and surely they +might have managed just to live with less difficulty. Even if Dan had +been as good and helpful as he ought to have been, it would not have +made much difference. + +Shenac would not confess it to herself, much less to any one else, but +the work of the summer had been a little too much for her strength and +spirits. Her courage revived with a little rest and the sight of her +brother. He did not come back quite a new man, but he was a great deal +better and stronger than he had been for years; and the delight of +seeing him go about free from pain chased away the half of Shenac's +troubles. Even Dan's freaks did not seem so serious to her now, and she +made up her mind to say as little as possible to Hamish about the +vexations of the summer, and to think of nothing unpleasant now that she +had him at home again. + +But unpleasant things are not so easily set aside out of one's life, and +Shenac's vexations with Dan were not over. He was more industrious than +usual about this time, and worked at cutting and bringing up the +winter's wood with a zeal that made her doubly glad that she had said +little about their summer's troubles. He talked less and did more than +usual; and Hamish bade his mother and Shenac notice how quiet and manly +he was growing, when he startled them all by a declaration that he was +going with the Camerons and some other lads to the lumbering, far up the +Grand River. + +"I'm not going to the school. I would not, even if Mr Stewart were +coming back; and I am not needed at home, now that you are better, +Hamish. You can do what is needed in the winter, so much of the wood is +up; and, at any rate, I am going." + +Hamish entreated him to stay at home for his mother's sake, or to choose +some less dangerous occupation, if he must go away. + +"Dangerous! Nonsense, Hamish! Why should it be more dangerous to me +than to the rest? I cannot be a child all my life to please my mother +and Shenac." + +"No; that is true," said Hamish; "but neither can you be a man all at +once to please yourself. You are neither old enough nor strong enough +for such work as is done in the woods, whatever you may think." + +"There are younger lads going to the woods than I am," muttered Dan +sulkily. + +"Yes; but they are not going to do men's work nor get men's wages. If +you are wise, you will bide at home." + +But all that Hamish could get from Dan was a promise that he would not +go, as he had first intended, without his mother's leave. This was not +easy to get, for the fate of Lewis might well fill the mother's heart +with terror for Dan, who was much younger than his brother had been. +But she consented at last, and Shenac and Hamish set themselves to make +the best of Dan's going, for their mother's sake. + +"He'll be in safe keeping with the Camerons, mother, and it will do him +good to rough it a little. We'll have him back in the spring, more of a +man and easier to do with," said Hamish. + +But the mother was not easily comforted. Dan's going brought too +vividly back the going of those who had never returned; and the mother +fretted and pined for the lad, and murmured sometimes that, if Shenac +had been more forbearing with him, he might not have wanted to go. She +did not know how she hurt her daughter, or she never would have said +anything like that, for in her heart she knew that Shenac was not to +blame for the waywardness of Dan. But Shenac did not defend herself, +and the mother murmured on till the first letter came, saying that Dan +was well and doing well, and then she was content. + +About this time they had a visit from their Uncle Allister, their +mother's brother, in whose house Hamish had passed the summer. He +brought his two daughters--pretty, cheerful girls--who determined +between themselves, encouraged by Hamish, that they should carry off +Shenac for a month's visit when they went home. They succeeded too, +though Shenac declared and believed it to be impossible that she should +leave home, even up to the day before they went. The change did her a +great deal of good. She came back much more like the Shenac of two +years ago than she had seemed for a long time; and, as spring drew on, +she could look forward to the labours of another summer without the +miserable misgivings that had so vexed her in the fall. Indeed, now +that Hamish was well, whether Dan came home or not, she felt sure of +success, and of a quiet and happy summer for them all. + +But before spring came something happened. There came a letter from +Allister--not this time to the mother, but to Angus Dhu. It told of +wonderful success which had followed his going to the gold country, and +made known to Angus Dhu that in a certain bank in the city of M--- he +would find a sum of money equal to all his father's debt, with interest +up to the first day of May following, at which time he trusted that he +would give up all claim to the land that had been in his possession for +the last two years, according to the promise made to his father. He was +coming home soon, he added; he could not say just when. He meant to +make more money first, and then, if all things were to his mind, he +should settle down on his father's land and wander no more. + +It was also added, quite at the end of the paper, as though he had not +intended to speak of it at first, that he had had nothing to do with the +going away of his cousin, as he had heard the lad's father had supposed, +but that he should do his best to bring him home again; "for," he added, +"it is not at all a happy life that folk must live in this golden land." + +To say that Angus Dhu was surprised when this letter came would not be +saying enough. He was utterly amazed. He had often thought that when +Allister was tired of his wanderings in foreign lands he might wander +home again and claim his share of what his father had left. But that he +had gone away and stayed away all this time for the purpose of redeeming +the land which his father had lost, he never for a moment supposed. He +even now thought it must have been a fortunate chance that had given the +money first into Allister's hand and then into his own. He made up his +mind at once that he should give up the land. It did not cost him half +as much to do so as it would have cost him two years ago not to get it. +It had come into his mind more than once of late, as he had seen how +well able the widow's children were to manage their own affairs, that +they might have been trusted to pay their father's debt in time; and, +whatever his neighbours thought, he began to think himself that he had +been hard on his cousin. Of course he did not say so; but he made up +his mind to take the money and give up the land. + +And what words shall describe the joyful pride of Shenac? She did not +try to express it in words while Angus Dhu was there, but "her face and +her sparkling eyes were a sight to behold," as the old man afterwards in +confidence told his daughter Shenac. There were papers to be drawn up +and exchanged, and a deal of business of one kind or another to be +settled between the widow and Angus Dhu, and a deal of talk was needed, +or at least expended, in the course of it; but in it Shenac took no +part. She placed entire reliance on the sense and prudence of Hamish, +and she kept herself quite in the background through it all. + +She would not acknowledge to any one who congratulated her on Allister's +success, that any surprise mingled with her pleasure; and once she took +Shenac Dhu up sharply--gave her a down-setting, as that astonished young +woman expressed it--because she did not take the coming of the money +quite as a matter of course, and ventured to express a little surprise +as well as pleasure at the news. + +"And what is there surprising in it?" demanded Shenac Bhan. "Is our +Allister one whose well-doing need astonish any one? But I forgot. He +is not _your_ brother. You don't know our Allister, Shenac." + +"Don't I?" said Shenac Dhu, opening her black eyes a little wider than +usual. "Well, I don't wonder that you are proud of your brother. But +you need not take a body up like that. I'm not surprised that he minded +you all, and sent the money when he got it; but it is not, as a general +thing, the good, true hearts that get on in this world. I was aye sure +he would come back, but I never thought of his being a rich man." + +Shenac Dhu sighed, as if she had been bemoaning his poverty. + +"She's thinking of Evan yonder," said Shenac Bhan to herself. "Our +Allister is not a rich man," she said gravely. "He sent enough to pay +the debt and the interest. There is a little over, because your father +won't take the interest for the last two years, having had the land. +But our Allister is not rich." + +"But he means to be rich before he comes home," persisted Shenac Dhu; +"and neither he nor Evan will be content to bide quietly here again-- +never. It aye spoils people to go away and grow rich." + +Shenac Bhan looked at her with some surprise. + +"I cannot answer for Evan, but our Allister says he is coming home to +stay. I'm not afraid for him." + +"Oh, but he must be changed after all these years. He has forgotten how +different life is here," said Shenac Dhu with a sigh. "But, Shenac, +your Allister speaks kindly of our Evan--in the letter your mother got, +I mean." + +"That he does," said Shenac Bhan eagerly. "He says they are like +brothers, and he says your father need not be sorry that Evan went away. +He needed hardening, and he'll win through bravely; and Allister says +he'll bring Evan with him when he comes. You may trust our Allister, +Shenac." + +"May I?" said Shenac Dhu a little wistfully. "Well, I will," she added, +laughing. "But, Shenac, I cannot help it. I _am_ surprised that +Allister should turn out a rich man. He is far too good for the like of +that. But there is one good thing come out of it--my father has got +quit of the land. You can never cast that up again, Shenac Bhan." + +Shenac Bhan's cheek was crimsoned. + +"I never cast it up to you, Shenac Dhu," said she hastily. "I never +spoke to any one but himself; and I was sorry as soon as I said it." + +"You need not be. He thought none the worse of you, after the first +anger. But, Shenac, my father is not so hard a man as folk think. I do +believe he is less glad for the money than he is for Allister and you +all. If Evan would only come home! My father has so set his heart on +Evan." + +Though Shenac took the matter quietly as far as the rest of the world +was concerned, she "emptied her heart" to Hamish. To him she confessed +she had grown a little doubtful of Allister. + +"But, Hamish, I shall never doubt or be discouraged again. If Allister +only comes safe home to my mother and to us all, I shall be content. We +are too young, Hamish. It does not harm you, I know; but as for me, I +am getting as hard as a stone, and as cross as two sticks. I shall be +glad when the time comes that I can do as I am bidden again." + +Hamish laughed. "Are you hard, Shenac, and cross? Well, maybe just a +little sometimes. I am not afraid for you, though. It will all come +right, I think, in the end. But I am glad Allister is coming home, and +more glad for your sake than for all the rest." + + + +CHAPTER TWELVE. + +It is May-day again--not so bright and pleasant as the May-day two years +ago, when Hamish and Shenac sat so drearily watching Angus Dhu's +fence-building. They are sitting on the same spot now, and the children +are under the big willow, sailing boats as they did that day--all but +Dan. You could not make him believe that he had done such a foolish +thing as that two years ago. Two years! It might be ten for the +difference they have made in Dan. He only came back from the Grand +River two days ago, and Shenac has not ceased wondering and laughing at +the change in him. It is not merely his new-fashioned coat and +astonishing waistcoat that have changed him. He has grown amazingly, +and his voice is almost always as deep and rough as Angus Dhu's; and the +man and the boy are so blended in all he says and does, that Shenac has +much ado to answer him as gravely as he expects. + +"Hamish," he called out from the top of the fence on which he was +sitting, "you are a man of sense, and I want to ask you a question. +Whose fence is this that I am sitting on? Is it ours, or Angus Dhu's?" + +Hamish had not considered the question. Indeed, Dan did not wait for an +answer. + +"Because, it is of no use here. If it is ours, we'll draw the rails up +to the high field, and get them out of the way before Allister comes +home. If it belongs to Angus Dhu, we'll--we'll throw the rails into the +creek." + +"There's no hurry about it, is there?" said a voice behind him; and Dan, +jumping down, turned about, and with more shamefacedness than Shenac +would have believed possible, met the offered hand of Angus Dhu. + +"I heard you had come back again, Dan, lad; and I thought you would not +let the grass grow under your feet.--Are you for putting my good rails +in the creek, Hamish, man?" + +Hamish was laughing too much at Dan's encounter to be able to answer at +once. Shenac was laughing too; but she was nearly as shamefaced as Dan, +remembering her own encounter on the same ground. + +"If it is Allister you're thinking about, he's not here yet, and you +need not be in a hurry. And as to whether the rails are yours or mine, +when the goods are bought and paid for there need be no words about the +string that ties them. But for all that, Dan, lad, I have something to +say to your mother yet, and you may as well let them be where they are a +while.--Are you for sending my good rails down the creek, too?" he added +suddenly, turning to Shenac. + +"It was Dan's plan, not mine," said Shenac. "Though once I would have +liked to do it," she added candidly. + +"No, Shenac," said Hamish; "you wanted to burn it. Don't you mind?" + +"O Hamish!" exclaimed Shenac. + +Angus Dhu smiled. + +"That would be a pity. They are good rails--the very best. And if they +were put up too soon, they can be taken down again. You have heard from +your brother again?" + +"No; not since about the time of your letter," said Hamish. "We are +thinking he may be on the way." + +For an instant an eager look crossed the face of the old man, but he +shook his head. + +"No. With gold comes the love of it. He will stay where he is a while +yet." + +"You don't know our Allister," exclaimed Shenac hotly. + +But Hamish laid his hand on hers. + +"Whisht. He's thinking of Evan," he said softly. + +"He'll not be here this while yet," continued Angus Dhu, not heeding the +interruption. "You'll have the summer before you, I'm thinking; and the +question is, whether you'll take down the fence just now, while the +creek is full," he added, smiling significantly at Dan, "or whether +you'll let things be as they are till you have more help. I have done +well by the land, and will yet, and give you what is just and right for +the use of it till your brother comes. But for what am I saying all +this to children like you? It is your mother that must decide it." + +Accordingly, before the mother the matter was laid; but it was not the +mother who decided it. Shenac could hardly sit still while he spoke of +the time that might pass before Allister should come home. But when he +went on to say that, unless they had more help, the boys and Shenac +could not manage more land than they had already, she felt that it was +true. Hamish thought so too, and said heartily to Angus Dhu that the +land would be better under his care till Allister should come. + +Dan was indignant. He felt himself equal to anything, and declared +that, with two men at his disposal, he could make the farm look like a +different place. But the rest had less faith in Dan than he had in +himself. He did not conceal his disgust at the idea of creeping on +through another summer in the old, quiet way, and talked of leaving it +to Hamish and Shenac and seeking work somewhere else. But they knew +very well he would never do that, now that Allister might be home among +them any day; and he did not. There was no pulling down of the fence, +however. It stood as firm as ever; but it was not an eyesore to Shenac +now. + +The spring passed, and the summer wore away slowly, for there was no +more word of Allister. Shenac did not weary herself with field-work, as +she had done the last two years; for she felt that they might get help +now, and, besides, she was needed more in the house. Her mother had +allowed herself to think that only a few weeks would pass before she +should see her first-born, and the waiting and suspense told upon her +sadly. It told upon Shenac, too. In spite of her declaration to +Hamish, she did feel anxious and discouraged many a time. Hamish was +ill again, not always able to see to things; and Dan was not proving +himself equal to the emergency, now that he was having his own way +out-of-doors. That would not matter much, if Allister were come. He +would set all things right again, and Dan would not be likely to resist +his oldest brother's lawful authority. + +But if Allister did not come soon? Shenac shrank from this question. +If he did not come soon, she would have something else to think about +besides Dan's delinquencies. Her mother could not endure this suspense +much longer. It was wearing out her health and spirits; and it needed +all Shenac's strength and courage to get through some of these summer +days. It was worse when Hamish went again for a few weeks to his +uncle's. He must go, Shenac said, to be strong and well to welcome +Allister; and much as it grieved him to leave his sister, he knew that a +few weeks of the baths would give him the best chance to be able to help +her should this sad suspense change to sadder certainty and Allister +never come home again. So he went away. + +Often and often, during the long days that followed his going away, +Shenac used to wonder at herself for ever having been weary of the +labour that had fallen to her during the last two years. Now, when her +mother had a better day than usual, when little Flora could do all that +was needed for her, so that Shenac could go out to the field, she was +comparatively at peace. The necessity for bodily exertion helped her +for the time to set aside the fear that was growing more terrible every +day. But, when the days came that she could not leave her mother, when +she must sit by her side, or wander with her into the garden or fields, +saying the same hopeful words or answering the same questions over and +over again, it seemed to her that she could not very long endure it. A +fear worse than the fear of death grew upon her--the fear that her +mother's mind would give way at last, and that she would not know her +son when he came. Even the fear that he might never come seemed easier +to bear than this. + +Shenac Dhu helped her greatly at this time. Not that she was very +cheerful herself, poor girl; but the quick, merry ways she would assume +with her aunt did her good. She would speak of the coming home of +Allister as certain and near at hand, and she would tell of all that was +to be done and said, of the house that he was to build, and of the gowns +that Shenac Bhan was to wear, while her aunt would listen contentedly +for a while. And when the old shadow came back, and the old moan rose, +she would just begin and go over it all again. + +She was needed at home during the day; but all the time that Hamish was +away she shared with Shenac Bhan the task of soothing the weary, wakeful +nights of the mother. She sat one night in the usual way, speaking +softly, and singing now and then, till the poor weary mother had dropped +asleep. Rising quietly and going to the door, she found Shenac Bhan +sitting on the step, with her head on her hands. + +"Shenac," she said, "why did you not go to bed, as I bade you? I'll +need to begin on you, now that aunt is settled for the night. You are +tired, Shenac. Why don't you go to bed?" + +Her cousin moved and made room for her on the step beside her. The +children were in bed, and Dan had gone away with one of Angus Dhu's men +to a preaching that was going on in a new kirk several miles away. It +was moonlight--so bright that they could see the shadows of the trees +far over the fields, and only a star was visible here and there in the +blue to which, for a time, the faces of both were upturned. + +"You're tired, Shenac Bhan," said her cousin again; "more tired than +usual, I mean." + +"No, not more tired than you are. Do you know, Shenac, your eyes look +twice as big as they used to do, and twice as black?" + +"Do they? Well, so do yours. But no wonder that you are growing thin +and pale; for I do believe, you foolish Shenac Bhan, that it sometimes +comes into your mind that Allister may never come home. Now confess." + +"I often think it," said Shenac, in an awed voice. + +"Toch! I knew it by your face. You are as bad as my aunt." + +"Do you never think so?" asked our Shenac. + +"Think it!" said Shenac Dhu scornfully. "I trow not. Why should I +think it? I will not think it! He'll come and bring Evan. Oh, I'm +sure he'll come." + +"Well, I'm not always hopeless; there is no reason," said Shenac. "He +did not say he would come at once; but he should write." + +"Oh, you may be sure he has written and the letter has been lost. I +hardly ever take up a paper but I read of some ship that has gone down, +and think of the letters that must go down with it, and other things." + +Each saw the emotions that the face of the other betrayed in the +moonlight. + +"And think of the sailors," continued Shenac Dhu. "O Shenac, darling, +we are only wearying for a lost letter; but think of the lost sailors, +and the mothers and sisters that are waiting for them!" A strong +shudder passed over Shenac Bhan. + +"I don't think you know what you are saying, Shenac," said she. + +"Yes; about the lost letters, and the sailors," said Shenac Dhu +hurriedly. "The very worst that can happen to us is that we may lose +the letters. God would never give us the hope of seeing them, and then +let them be drowned in the sea." + +The thought was too much for them, and they burst into bitter weeping. + +"We are two fools," said Shenac Dhu, "frightening ourselves for nothing. +We need Hamish to scold us and set us right. Why should we be afraid? +If there was any cause for fear there would be plenty to tell us of it. +Nobody seems afraid for them except my father; and it is not fear with +him. He has never settled down in the old way since the letter came +saying that Allister would bring Evan home." + +Yes, they needed Hamish more than they knew. It was the anxiety for the +mother, the sleepless nights and unoccupied days, that, all together, +unnerved Shenac Bhan. It was the dwelling on the same theme, the going +over and over the same thing--"nothing would happen to him?"--"he would +be sure to come?"--till the words seemed to mock her, they made her so +weary of hoping and waiting. + +For, indeed, nobody seemed to think there was anything strange in the +longer stay of Allister. He had stayed so long and done so well, he +might be trusted surely to come home when the right time came. No, +there was no real cause for fear, Shenac repeated to herself often. If +her mother had been well and quite herself, and if Hamish had been at +home, she thought she would never have fallen into this miserable dread. + +She was partly right. It was better for them all when Hamish came home. +He was well, for him, and cheerful. He had never imagined how sadly +the time was passing at home, or he would not have stayed away so long. +He was shocked at the wan looks of the two girls, and quite unable to +understand how they should have grown so troubled at a few weeks' or +even a few months' delay. His wonder at their trouble did them good. +It could not be so strange--the silence and the delay--or Hamish would +surely see it. The mother was better too after the return of Hamish. +The sight of him, and his pleasant, gentle talk, gave a new turn to her +thoughts, and she was able again to take an interest in what was going +forward about her; and when there came a return of the old restlessness +and pain, it was Hamish who stayed in the house to soothe her and to +care for her, while Shenac betook herself with her old energy to the +harvest-field. + +The harvest passed. Dan kept very steady at it, though every night he +went to the new kirk, where the meetings were still held. He did not +say much about these meetings even when questioned, but they seemed to +have a wonderful charm for him; for night after night, wet or dry, he +and Angus Dhu's man, Peter, walked the four miles that lay between them +and the new kirk to hear--"What?" Shenac asked one night. + +"Oh, just preaching, and praying, and singing." + +"But that is nonsense," insisted Shenac. "You are not so fond of +preaching as all that. What is it, Dan?" + +"It's just that," said Dan; "that is all they do. The minister speaks +to folk, and sometimes the elders; and that's all. But, Shenac, it's +wonderful to see so many folk listening and solemn, as if it was the +judgment day; and whiles one reads and prays--folk that never used; and +I'm always wondering who it will be next. Last night it was Sandy +McMillan. You should have heard him, Shenac." + +"Sandy McMillan!" repeated Shenac contemptuously. "What next, I wonder? +I think the folk are crazed. It must be the singing. I mind when I +was at Uncle Allister's last year I went to the Methodist watch-meeting, +and the singing--oh, you should have heard the singing, Hamish! I could +not keep back the tears, do what I would. It must be the singing, Dan." + +Dan shook his head. + +"They just sing the psalms, Shenac. I never heard anything else--and +the old tunes. They do sound different, though." + +"Well, it goes past me," said Shenac. "But it is all nonsense going +every night, Dan--so far too." + +"There are plenty of folk who go further," said Dan. "You should go +yourself, Shenac." + +"I have something else to do," said Shenac. + +"Everybody goes," continued Dan; and he repeated the names of many +people, far and near, who were in the new kirk night after night. "Come +with me and Peter to-night, Shenac." + +But Shenac had other things to think about, she said. Still she thought +much of this too. + +"I wonder what it is, Hamish," said she when they were alone. "I can +understand why Dan and Peter McLay should go--just because other folk +go; and I daresay there's some excitement in seeing all the folk, and +that is what they like. But so many others, sensible folk, and worldly +folk, and all kinds of folk, in this busy harvest-time! You should go, +Hamish, and see what it is all about." + +But the way was long and the meetings were late, and Hamish needed to +save his strength; and he did not go, though many spoke of the meetings, +and the wonderful change which was wrought in the heart and life of many +through their means. He wondered as well as Shenac, but not in the same +way; for he had felt in his own heart the wondrous power that lies in +the simple truth of God to comfort and strengthen and enlighten; and it +came into his mind, sometimes, that the good days of which he had read +were coming back again, when the Lord used to work openly in the eyes of +all the people, making his Church the instrument of spreading the glory +of his name by the conversion of many in a day. It did not trouble or +stumble him, as it did his sister, that it was not in their church--the +church of their fathers--that this was done. They were God's people, +and it made no difference; and so, while she only wondered, he wondered +and rejoiced. + +But about this time news came that put all other thoughts out of their +minds for a while. The mother was sleeping, and Shenac and Hamish were +sitting in the firelight one evening in September, when the door opened +and their cousin Shenac came in. She seemed greatly excited, and there +were tears on her cheeks, and she did not speak, but came close up to +Shenac Bhan, without heeding the exclamations of surprise with which +they both greeted her. + +"Did I not tell you, Shenac, that God would never drown them in the +sea?" + +She had run so fast that she had hardly a voice to say the words, and +she sank down at her cousin's feet, gasping for breath. In her hands +she held a letter. It was from Evan--the first he had written to his +father since he went away. Shenac told them that her father had +received it in the morning, but said nothing about it then, going about +all day with a face like death, and only told them when he broke down at +worship-time, when he prayed as usual for "all distant and dear." + +"Then he told my mother and me," continued Shenac Dhu, spreading out a +crushed morsel of paper with hands that trembled. It was only a line or +two, broken and blurred, praying for his father's forgiveness and +blessing on his dying son. He meant to come home with his cousin. They +were to meet at Saint F---, and sail together, But he had been hurt, and +had fallen ill of fever in an inland town, and he was dying. "And now +the same ship that takes this to you will take Allister home. He will +not know that I am dying, but will think I have changed my mind as I +have done before. I would not let him know if I could; for he would be +sure to stay for my sake, and his heart is set on getting home to his +mother and the rest. And, father, I want to tell you that it was not +Allister that beguiled me from home, but my own foolishness. He has +been more than a brother to me. He has saved my life more than once, +and he has saved me from sins worse than death; and you must be kind to +him and to them all for my sake." + +"And then," said Shenac Dhu, "there is his name, written as if he had +been blind; and that is all." + +The three young people sat looking at one another in silence. Shenac +Bhan's heart beat so strongly that she thought her mother must hear it +in her bed; but she could not put her thought in words--"Allister is +coming home." Shenac Dhu spoke first. + +"Hamish--Shenac, I told my father that Allister would never leave our +Evan alone to die among strangers." + +She paused, looking eagerly first at one and then at the other. + +"No," said Hamish; "he would never do that, if he knew it in time to +stay. We can but wait and see." + +"Wait and see!" Shenac Bhan echoed the words in her heart. If they had +heard that he was to stay for months, or even for years, she thought she +could bear it better than this long suspense. + +"Shenac," said her cousin, reading her thought, "you would not have +Allister come and leave him? It will only be a little longer whether +Evan lives or dies." + +"No," said Shenac; "but my mother." + +"We will not tell her for a little while," said Hamish. "If Allister is +coming it will be soon; and if he has stayed, it will give my mother +more hope of his coming home at last to hear that he is well and that he +is waiting for Evan." + +"And my father," said Shenac Dhu. "Oh! if you had seen how he grasped +at the hope when I said Allister was sure to stay, you would not grudge +him for a day or two. Think of the poor lad dying so far from home and +from us all!" And poor Shenac clung to her cousin, bursting into sobs +and bitter tears. + +"Whisht, Shenac, darling," said her cousin, her own voice broken with +sobs; "we can only have patience." + +"Yes," said Hamish; "we can do more than that--we can trust and pray. +And we will not fear for the mother, Shenac. She will be better, now +that there is a reason for Allister's stay.--And, Cousin Shenac, you +must take hope for your brother. No wonder he was downcast thinking of +being left. You must tell your father that there is no call to give up +hope for Evan." + +"O Hamish, my father loved Evan dearly, though he was hard on him. He +has grown an old man since he went away; and to-day,--oh, I think to-day +his heart is broken." + +"The broken and contrite heart He will not despise," murmured Hamish. +"We have all need of comfort, Shenac, and we'll get it if we seek it." + +And the two girls were startled first, and then soothed, as the voice of +Hamish rose in prayer. It was no vague, formal utterance addressed to a +God far away and incomprehensible. He was pleading with a Brother close +at hand--a dear and loving elder Brother--for their brothers far away. +He did not plead as one who feared denial, but trustfully, joyfully, +seeking first that God's will might be done in them and theirs. Hamish +was not afraid; nothing could be plainer than that. So the two Shenacs +took a little comfort, and waited and trusted still. + + + +CHAPTER THIRTEEN. + +And so they waited. For a few days it did not seem impossible to Shenac +that Allister might come; and she watched each hour of the day and +night, starting and trembling at every sound. But he did not come, and +in a little while Hamish broke the tidings to his mother, how they had +heard that Allister was to have sailed on a certain day, but his Cousin +Evan having been taken ill, they were to wait for another ship; but they +would be sure to come soon. + +Happily, the mother's mind rested more on having heard that her son was +well, and was coming some time, than on his being delayed; and she was +better after that. She fell back for a little time into her old ways, +moving about the house, and even betaking herself to the neglected +flax-spinning. But she was very feeble, going to bed early, and rising +late, and requiring many an affectionate stratagem on the part of her +children to keep her from falling into invalid ways. + +It was a sad and weary waiting to them all, but to none more than to +Angus Dhu. If he had heard of his son's death, it would not have been +so terrible to him as the suspense which he often told himself need not +be suspense. There was no hope, there could be none, after the words +written by his son's trembling hands. He grew an old, feeble man in the +short space between the harvest and the new year. The grief which had +fallen on all the family when Evan's letter came gave way before the +anxiety with which they all saw the change in him. His wife was a +quiet, gentle woman, saying little at any time, perhaps feeling less +than her stern husband. They all sorrowed, but it was on the father +that the blight fell heaviest. + +It was a fine Sabbath morning in October. It was mild, and not very +bright, and the air was motionless. It was just like an Indian-summer +day, only the Indian summer is supposed to come in November, after some +snow has fallen on brown leaves and bare boughs; and now the woods were +brilliant with crimson and gold, except where the oak-leaves rustled +brown, or the evergreens mingled their dark forms with the pervading +brightness. It was a perfect Sabbath day, hushed and restful. But it +must be confessed that Shenac shrank a little from its long, quiet, +unoccupied hours; and when something was said about the great +congregation that would be sure to assemble in the new kirk, she said +she would like to go. + +"Go, by all means," said the mother; "and Hamish too, if you are able +for the walk. Little Flora can do all that is to be done. There's +nothing to hinder, if you would like to go." + +There was nothing to hinder; the mother seemed better and more cheerful +than she had seemed for many days. They might very well leave her for a +little while; they would be home again in the afternoon. So they went +early--long before the people were setting out--partly that they might +have time to rest by the way, and partly that they might enjoy the walk +together. + +And they did enjoy it. They were young, and unconsciously their hearts +strove to throw off the burden of care that had pressed so long and so +heavily upon them. + +"It has seemed like the old days again," said Shenac as they came in +sight of the new kirk, round which many people had already gathered. +They were strangers mostly, or, at least, people that they did not know +very well; and, a little shy and unaccustomed to a crowd, they went into +the kirk and sat down near the door. It was a very bright, pleasant +house, quite unlike the dim, dreary old place they were accustomed to +worship in; and they looked round them with surprise and interest. + +In a little time the congregation began to gather, and soon the pews +were filled and the aisles crowded with an eager multitude; then the +minister came in, and worship began. First the psalm was named, and +then there was a pause till the hundreds of Bibles or psalm books were +opened and the place found. Then the old familiar words were heard, and +yet could they be the same? + +Shenac looked at her Bible. The very same. She had learned the psalm +years ago. She had heard it many a time in the minister's monotonous +voice in the old kirk; and yet she seemed to hear it now for the first +time. Was it the minister's voice that made the difference? Every word +fell sweet and clear and full from his lips--from his heart--touching +the hearts of the listening hundreds. Then the voice of praise arose +"like the sound of many waters." After the first verse Hamish joined, +but through it all Shenac listened; she alone was silent. With the full +tones of youth and middle age mingled the shrill, clear notes of little +children, and the cracked and trembling voices of old men and women, +dwelling and lingering on the sweet words as if they were loath to leave +them. It might not be much as music, but as praise it rose to Heaven. +Then came the prayer. Shenac thought of Jacob wrestling all night with +the angel at Jabbok, and said to herself, "As a prince he hath power +with God." Then came the reading of the Scriptures, then more singing, +and then the sermon began. + +Shenac did not fall asleep when the text was read; she listened, and +looked, and wondered. There were no sleepers there that day, even old +Donald and Elspat Smith were awake and eager. Every face was turned +upward towards the minister. Many of them were unknown to Shenac; but +on those that were familiar to her an earnestness, new and strange, +seemed to rest as they listened. + +What could it be? The sermon seemed to be just like other sermons, only +the minister seemed to be full of the subject, and eager to make the +truth known to the people. Shenac turned to her brother: she quite +started when she saw his face. It was not peace alone, or joy, or +triumph, but peace and joy and triumph were brightly blended on the +boy's face as he hung on the words of life spoken there that day. + + "They with the fatness of thy house + Shall be well satisfied; + From rivers of thy pleasures thou + Wilt drink to them provide," + +repeated Shenac. And again it came into her mind that Hamish was +changed, and held in his heart a treasure which she did not share; and +still the words of the psalm came back:-- + + "Because of life the fountain pure + Remains alone with thee; + And in that purest light of thine + We clearly light shall see." + +Did Hamish see that light? She looked away from her brother's fair face +to the congregation about them. Did these people see it? did old Donald +and Elspat Smith see it? did big Maggie Cairns, at whose simplicity and +queerness all the young people used to laugh, see it? Yes, even on her +plain, common face a strange, bright look seemed to rest, as she turned +it to the minister. There were other faces too with that same gleam of +brightness on them--old weather-beaten faces, some of them careworn +women's faces, and the faces of young girls and boys, one here and +another there, scattered through the earnest, listening crowd. + +By a strong effort Shenac turned her attention to the minister's words. +They were earnest words, surely, but wherein did they differ from the +words of other men? They seemed to her just like the truths she had +heard before--more fitly spoken, perhaps, than when they fell from the +lips of good old Mr Farquharson, but just the same. + +"For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a +good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love +toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." + +This was the text. It was quite familiar to her; and so were the truths +drawn from it, she thought. What could be the cause of the interest +that she saw in the faces of those eager hundreds? Did they see +something hidden from her? did they hear in those words something to +which her ears were deaf? Her eyes wandered from one familiar face to +another, coming back to her brother's always with the same wonder; and +she murmured again and again,-- + + "From rivers of thy pleasures thou + Wilt drink to them provide." + +"He that drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never +thirst." + +"That is for Hamish, I'm sure of that. I wonder how it all happened to +him? I'll ask him." + +But she did not. The bright look was on his face when the sermon ended, +and while the psalm was sung. It was there when the great congregation +slowly dispersed, and all the way as they walked home with the +neighbours. It was there all day, and all the week; and it never left +him. Even when pain and sickness set their mark on his face, through +all their sorrowful tokens the bright look of peace shone still; and +Shenac watched and wondered, but she did not speak of it yet. + +This was Shenac's first visit to the new kirk, but it was by no means +the last. + +It would be out of place to enter here into any detailed history of this +one of those awakenings of God's people which have taken place at +different times in this part of the country; and yet it cannot be quite +passed over. For a long time all the settlers in that neighbourhood +worshipped in the same kirk; but when the time came which proved the +Church in the motherland--the time which separated into two bodies that +which had long been one--the same division extended to the far-away +lands where the Scottish form of worship had prevailed. After a time, +they who went away built another house in which they might worship the +God of their fathers; and it was at the time of the opening of this +house that the Lord visited his people. + +A few of those to whom even the dust of Zion is dear, seeking to +consecrate the house, and with it themselves, more entirely to God's +service, met for prayer for a few nights before the public dedication; +and from that time for more than a year not a night passed in which the +voice of prayer and praise did not arise within its walls. All through +the busy harvest-time, through the dark autumn evenings, when the unmade +roads of the country were deep and dangerous, and through the frosts and +snows of a bitter winter, the people gathered to the house of prayer. +Old people, who in former years had thought themselves too feeble to +brave the night and the storm for the sake of a prayer-meeting, were now +never absent. Young people forsook the merry gatherings of singers and +dancers, to join the assemblies of God's people. + +It was a wonderful time, all say who were there then. Connected with it +were none of those startling circumstances which in many minds are +associated with a time of revival. The excitement was deep, earnest, +and silent; there was in use none of the machinery for creating or +keeping up an interest in the meetings. A stranger coming into one of +those assemblies might have seen nothing different from the usual weekly +gatherings of God's people. The minister held forth the word of life as +at other times. It was the simple gospel, the preaching of Christ and +him crucified, that prevailed, through the giving of God's grace, to the +saving of many. + +At some of the meetings others besides the minister took part. At first +it was only the elders or the old people who led the devotions of the +rest, or uttered words of counsel or encouragement; but later, as God +gave them grace and courage, younger men raised their voices in +thanksgivings or petitions, or to tell of God's dealings with them. But +all was done gravely and decently. There was no pressing of excited and +ignorant young people to the "anxious seats," no singing of "revival +hymns." They sang the Psalms from first to last--the old, rough +version, which people nowadays criticise and smile at, wondering how +ever the cramped lines and rude metre could find so sure and permanent a +place in the hearts and memories of their fathers. It is said now that +these old psalms are quite insufficient for all occasions of praise; but +to those people, with hearts overflowing with revived or new-found love, +it did not seem so. The suffering and sorrowful saint found utterance +in the cry of the psalmist, and the rejoicing soul found in his words +full expression for the most triumphant and joyful praise. They who +after many wanderings were coming back to their first love, and they who +had never come before, alike took his words of self-abasement as their +own. So full and appropriate and sufficient did they prove, that at +last old and experienced Christians could gather from the psalm chosen +what were the exercises of the reader's mind; and the ignorant, or those +unaccustomed to put their thoughts in words, found a voice in the words +which the Sabbath singing and family worship had made familiar to them. + +After a time, when the number of inquirers became so numerous that they +could not be conveniently received at the manse or at the houses of the +elders, they were requested to stay when the congregation dispersed; and +oftentimes the few went while the most remained. Then was there many a +word "fitly spoken;" many a "word in season" uttered from heart to +heart; many a seeking sinner pointed to the Lamb of God; many a +sorrowful soul comforted; many a height of spiritual attainment made +visible to upward-gazing eyes; many a vision of glory revealed. + +I must not linger on these scenes, wondrous in the eyes of all who +witnessed them. Many were gathered into the Church, into the kingdom, +and the name of the Lord was magnified. In the day when all things +shall be made manifest, it shall be known what wonders of grace were +there in silence wrought. + +For a long time Shenac came to these meetings very much as Dan had +done--because of the interest she took in seeing others deeply moved. +She came as a spectator, wondering what it all meant, interested in what +was said because of the earnestness of the speakers, and enjoying the +clear and simple utterance of truth, hitherto only half understood. + +But gradually her attitude was changed. It was less easy after a while +to set herself apart, for many a truth came home to her sharply and +suddenly. Now and then a momentary gleam of light flashed upon her, +showing how great was her need of the help which Heaven alone could +give. Many troubled and anxious thoughts she had, but she kept them all +to herself. She never lingered behind with those who wished for +counsel; she never even spoke to Hamish of all that was passing in her +heart. + +This was, for many reasons, a time of great trial for Shenac. Day after +day and week after week passed, and still there came no tidings from +Allister or Evan, and every passing day and week seemed to her to make +the hope of their return more uncertain. The mother was falling into a +state which was more terrible to Shenac than positive illness would have +been. Her memory was failing, and she was becoming in many things like +a child. She was more easily dealt with in one sense, for she was +hardly ever fretful or exacting now; but the gentle passiveness that +assented to all things, the forgetfulness of the trifles of the day, and +the pleased dwelling on scenes and events of long ago, were far more +painful to her children than her fretfulness had ever been. + +With a jealousy which all may not be able to understand, Shenac strove +to hide from herself and others that her mother's mind was failing. She +punished any seeming neglect or disrespect to their mother on the part +of the little ones with a severity that no wrong-doing had ever called +forth before, and resented any sympathising allusions of the neighbours +to her mother's state as an insult and a wrong. + +She never left her. Even the nightly assembling in the kirk, which soon +began to interest her so deeply, could not beguile her from home till +her mother had been safely put to rest, with Hamish to watch over her. +All this, added to her household cares, told upon Shenac. But a worse +fear, a fear more terrible than even the uncertainty of Allister's fate +or the doubt as to her mother's recovery, was taking hold upon her. Her +determination to drive it from her served to keep it ever in view, for +it made her watch every change in the face and in the strength of her +beloved brother with an eagerness which she could not conceal. + +Yes, Hamish was less strong than he had been last year. The summer's +visit to the springs had not done for him this year what it had done +before. He was thinner and paler, and less able to exert himself, than +ever. Even Dan saw it, and gave up all thoughts of going to the woods +again, and devoted himself to out-door matters with a zeal that left +Shenac free to attend to her many cares within. + +At last she took courage and spoke to her brother about her fears for +him. He was greatly surprised, both at her fears and at the emotion +with which she spoke of them. She meant to be very quiet, but when she +opened her lips all that was in her heart burst forth. He would not +acknowledge himself ill. He suffered less than he had often done when +he went to the fields daily, though there still lingered enough of +rheumatic trouble about him to make him averse to move much, and +especially to brave the cold. That was the reason he looked so wan and +wilted--that and the anxious thoughts about his mother. + +"And, indeed, Shenac, you are more changed than I am in looks, for that +matter." + +Shenac made an incredulous movement. + +"I am perfectly well," said she. + +"Yes; but you are changed. You are much thinner than you used to be, +and sometimes you look pale and very weary, and you are a great deal +older-looking." + +"Well, I am older than I used to be," said Shenac. + +She rose and crossed the room to look at herself in the glass. + +"I don't see any difference," she added, after a moment. + +"Not just now, maybe, because you have been busy and your cheeks are +red. And as for being a great deal older, how old are you, Shenac?" + +"I am--I shall be nineteen in September; but I feel a great deal older +than that," said Shenac. + +"Yes; that is what I was saying. You are changed as well as I. And you +are not to fancy things about me and add to your trouble. I am quite +well. If I were not, I would tell you, Shenac. It would be cruel +kindness to keep it from you; I know that quite well." + +Shenac looked wistfully in her brother's face. + +"I know I am growing a coward," she said in a broken voice. "O Hamish, +it does seem as though our troubles were too many and hard to bear just +now!" + +"He who sent them knows them--every one; and He can make his grace +sufficient for us," said Hamish softly. + +"Ay, for you, Hamish." + +"And for you too, Shenac. You are not very far from the light, dear +sister. Never fear." + + "And in that purest light of thine + We clearly light shall see," + +murmured Shenac. They were ever coming into her mind--bits of the +psalms she had been hearing so much lately; and they brought comfort, +though sometimes she hesitated to take it to her heart as she might. + +But light was near at hand, and peace and comfort were not far away. +Afterwards, Shenac always looked back to this night as the beginning of +her Christian life. This night she went to the house of prayer, from +which her fears for Hamish had for a long time kept her, and there the +Lord met her. Oh, how weary in body and mind and heart she was as she +sat down among the people! It seemed to her that not one of all the +congregation was so hopeless or so helpless as she--that no one in all +the world needed a Saviour more. As she sat there in the silence that +preceded the opening of the meeting, all her fears and anxieties came +over her like a flood, and she felt herself unable to stand up against +them in her own strength. She was hardly conscious of putting into +words the cry of her heart for help; but words are not needed by Him +from whom alone help can come. + +God does not always choose the wisest and greatest, even among his own +people, to do his noblest work. It was a very humble servant of God +through whose voice words of peace were spoken to Shenac. In the midst +of her trouble she heard a voice--an old man's weak, quavering voice-- +saying,-- + + "Praise God. The Lord praise, O my soul. + I'll praise God while I live; + While I have being to my God + In songs I'll praises give. + Trust not in princes;" + +and so on to the fifth verse, which he called the key-note of the +psalm:-- + + "O happy is that man and blest, + Whom Jacob's God doth aid; + Whose hope upon the Lord doth rest, + And on his God is stay'd;" + +and so on to the end of the 146th Psalm, pausing on every verse to tell, +in plain and simple words, why it is that they who trust in God are so +blessed. + +I daresay there were some in the kirk that night who grew weary of the +old man's talk, and would fain have listened to words more fitly chosen; +but Shenac was not one of these. As she listened, there came upon her a +sense of her utter sinfulness and helplessness, and then an +inexpressible longing for the help of Him who is almighty. And I cannot +tell how it came to pass, but even as she sat there she felt her +heaviest burdens roll away; the clouds that had hung over her so long, +hiding the light, seemed to disperse; and she saw, as it were, face to +face, Him who came to bear our griefs and carry our sorrows, and +thenceforth all was well with her. + +Well in the best sense. Not that her troubles and cares were at an end. +She had many of these yet; but after this she lived always in the +knowledge that she had none that were not of God's sending, so she no +longer wearied herself by trying to bear her burdens alone. + +It was not that life was changed to her. _She_ was changed. The same +Spirit who, through God's Word and the example and influence of her +brother, made her dissatisfied with her own doings, still wrought in +her, enlightening her conscience, quickening her heart, and filling her +with love to Him who first loved her. + +It would not have been easy for her, in the first wonder and joy of the +change, to tell of it in words, except that, like the man who was born +blind, she might have said, "One thing I know, that whereas I was blind, +now I see." But her life told what her lips could not, and in a +thousand ways it became evident to those at home, and to all who saw +her, that something had happened to Shenac--that she was at peace with +herself and with all the world as she had not been before; and as for +Hamish, he said to himself many a time, "It does not matter what happens +to Shenac now. All will be well with her, now and always." + + + +CHAPTER FOURTEEN. + +After long waiting, Allister came home. Shenac and Hamish had no +intention of watching the going out of the old year and the coming in of +the new; but they lingered over the fire, talking of many things, till +it grew late. And while they sat, the door opened, and Allister came +in. They did not know that he was Allister. The dark-bearded man +lingering on the threshold was very little like the fair-faced youth who +had left them four years ago. He made a step forward into the room, and +said,-- + +"This is Hamish, I know; but can this be our little Shenac?" And then +they knew him. + +It would be vain to try to describe the meeting. The very happiest +meeting after years of separation must be sorrowful too. Death had been +among them since Allister went, and the bereavement seemed new to the +returned wanderer, and his tears fell as he listened to the few words +Hamish said about his father's last days. + +When the first surprise and joy and sorrow were a little abated, Shenac +whispered,-- + +"And Evan--Hamish, should we go to-night to tell Angus Dhu that Allister +has come home?" + +"What about Evan, Allister?" said Hamish. + +"Do you not know? Did you not get my letter? I waited for Evan. He +had been robbed and hurt, and thought himself dying. But it was not so +bad as that. He is better now--quite well, I think. I left him at his +father's door." + +"At home! Evan at home! What did his father say? Did you see Angus +Dhu?" + +Shenac was quite breathless by the time her questions were asked. + +"No; I could not wait. The field between there and here seemed wider to +me than the ocean. When I saw the light, I left him there." And the +manly voice had much ado to keep from breaking into sobs again as he +spoke. + +"His father has been so anxious. No letter has come to us since Evan's +came to his father to say that he was dying. I wish the old man had +been prepared," said Shenac. + +"Oh, I am grieved! If I had but thought," said Allister regretfully. + +"It is quite as well that he was not prepared," said Hamish. And he was +right. + +Shenac Dhu told them about it afterwards. + +"My mother went to the door, and when she saw Evan she gave a cry and +let the light fall. And then we all came down; and my father came out +of his bed just as he was, and when he saw my mother crying and clinging +about the lad, he dropped down in the big chair and held out his hands +without saying a word. You may be sure Evan was not long in taking +them; and then he sank down on his knees, and my father put his arms +round him, and would not move--not even to put his clothes on," +continued Shenac Dhu, laughing and sobbing at the same time. "So I got +a plaid and put about him; and there they would have sat, I dare say, +till the dawn, but after just the first, Evan looked pale and weary, and +my father said he must go to bed at once. `But first tell us about your +cousin Allister,' my father said. Evan said it would take him all +night, and many a night, to tell all that Allister had done for him; and +then my father said, `God bless him!' over and over. And I cannot tell +you any more," said Shenac Dhu, laughing and crying and hiding her face +in her hands. + +"But as to my father being prepared," she added gravely, after a +moment's pause, "I am afraid if he had had time to think about it, it +would have seemed his duty to be stern at first with Evan. But it is +far better as it is; and he can hardly bear him out of his sight. Oh, +I'm glad it is over! I know now, by the joy of the home-coming, how +terrible the waiting must have been to him." + +Very sad to Allister was his mother's only half-conscious recognition of +him. She knew him, and called him by name; but she spoke, too, of his +father and Lewis, not as dead and gone, but as they used to be in the +old days when they were all at home together, when Hamish and Shenac +were little children. She was content, however, and did not suffer. +There were times, too, when she seemed to understand that he had been +away, and had come home to care for them all; and she seemed to trust +him entirely that "he would be good to Hamish and the rest when she was +no more." + +"Folk get used to the most sorrowful things at last," said Shenac to +herself, as, after a time, Allister could turn quietly from the mother, +so broken and changed, to renew his playful sallies with his brothers +and little Flora. Indeed, it was a new acquaintance that he had to make +with them. They had grown quite out of his remembrance, and he was not +at all like the brother Allister of their imaginations; but this making +friends with one another was a very pleasant business to them all. + +He had to renew his acquaintance with others too--with his cousins and +the neighbours. He had much to hear and much to tell, and after a while +he had much to do too; and through all the sayings and doings, the +comings and goings,--of the first few weeks, both Hamish and Shenac +watched their brother closely and curiously. Apart from their interest +in him as their brother whom they loved, and in whose hands the future +of all the rest seemed to lie, they could not but watch him curiously. +He was so exactly like the merry, gentle, truthful Allister of old +times, and yet so different! He had grown so strong and firm and manly. +He knew so many things. He had made up his mind about the world and +the people in it, and could tell his mind too. + +"Our Allister is a man!" said Shenac, as she sat in the kitchen one +night with Shenac Dhu and the rest. The words were made to mean a great +deal by the way in which they were spoken, and they all laughed. But +her cousin answered the words merely, and not the manner:-- + +"That is not saying much. Men are poor creatures enough, sometimes." + +"But our Allister is not one of that kind," said Dan, before his sister +had time to answer. "He _is_ a man. He is made to rule. His will must +be law wherever he is." + +Dan had probably some private reason for knowing this better than the +rest, and Shenac Dhu hinted as much. But Dan took no notice, and went +on,-- + +"You should hear Evan tell about him. Why, he saved the lives of the +whole band more than once, by his firmness and wisdom." + +"I have heard our Evan speaking of him," said Shenac Dhu, her dark eyes +softening, as she sat looking into the fire; "but if one is to believe +all that Evan says, your Allister is not a man at all, but--don't be +vexed, Dan--an angel out of heaven." + +"Oh, I don't know about that part of it," said Dan; "but I know one +thing: he'll be chief of the clan, boss of the shanty, or he'll know the +reason why.--O Shenac, dear, I'm sorry for you; your reign is over, I +doubt. You'll be farmer-in-chief no longer." + +The last words were spoken with a mingled triumph and pathos that were +irresistible. They all laughed. + +"Don't be too sorry for me, Dan," said his sister. "I'll try to bear +it." + +"Oh yes, I know: you think you won't care, but I know better. You like +to rule as well as Allister. You'll see, when spring comes, that you +won't put him aside as you used to put me." + +"There won't be the same need," said Shenac, laughing. + +"Won't there? It is all very fine, now that Allister is new. But wait +and see. You won't like to be second-best, after having been first so +long." + +Both Hamish and Shenac Dhu were observing her. She caught their look, +and reddened a little. + +"Do you think so, Shenac Dhu?--You surely cannot think so meanly of me, +Hamish?" + +"I think there may be a little truth in what Dan says, but I cannot +think meanly of you because of that," said Hamish. + +"Nonsense, Hamish!" said Shenac Dhu; "you don't know anything about it. +It is one thing to give up to a lad without sense, like Dan, but quite +another thing to yield to a man like Allister, strong and wise and +gentle. You are not to make Shenac afraid of her brother." + +"I shall never be afraid of Allister," said Shenac Bhan gravely; "and +indeed, Hamish, I don't think it is quite kind in you to think I like my +own way best of all--" + +"I did not mean that, Shenac," said her brother. + +"But you are afraid I will not like to give up to Allister. You need +not--at least, I think you need not," she added meditatively. "I shall +be glad and thankful to have our affairs managed by stronger hands and a +wiser head than mine." + +"If stronger and wiser could be found, Shenac, dear," said a new voice, +and Shenac's face was bent back, while her brother kissed her on the +cheek and lip. "Uncle Angus thinks it would not be easy to do that." + +They were all taken aback a little at this interruption, and each +wondered how much he had heard of what had been said. + +"Have you been long here, Allister?" asked Dan. + +"No; I came this minute from the other house. Your mother told me you +were here, Shenac Dhu." + +"Did you hear what we were saying?" asked Dan, not content to let well +alone. + +"No; what was it?" said Allister surprised, and a little curious. + +"Oh, you should have heard these girls," said Dan mischievously. "Such +stuff as they have been talking!" + +"The chief of the clan, and the boss of the shanty," said Hamish +gravely; "and that was you, Dan, was it not?" + +"Oh! what I said is nothing. It was the two Shenacs," said Dan. + +Shenac Dhu, as a general thing, was able enough to take her own part; +but she looked a little shamefaced at the moment, and said nothing. + +"What did they say, Dan?" asked Allister, laughing. + +Shenac Dhu need not have feared. Dan went on to say,-- + +"I have been telling our Shenac that she will have to `knock under,' now +that you are come home; but she says she is not afraid." + +"Why should she be?" asked Allister, who still stood behind his sister, +passing his hand caressingly over her hair. + +"Oh, you don't know our Shenac," said Dan, nodding wisely, as though he +could give some important information on the subject. The rest laughed. + +"I'm not sure that I know anybody's Shenac very well," said Allister +gravely; "but in time I hope to do so." + +"Oh, but our Shenac's not like the rest of the girls. She's hard and +proud, and looks at folk as though she didn't see them. You may laugh, +but I have heard folk say it; and so have you, Shenac Dhu." + +"No, I never did," said Shenac Dhu; "but maybe it's true for all that: +there's Sandy McMillan--" + +"And more besides him," said Dan. "There's your father--" + +"My father! Oh, he's no mark. He believes Shenac Bhan to be at least +fifteen years older than I am, and wiser in proportion. But as for her +not seeing people, that's nonsense, Dan." + +But Shenac Bhan would have no more of it. + +"Shenac Dhu, you are as foolish as Dan to talk so. Don't encourage him. +What will Allister think?" + +Shenac laughed, but said no more. + +They were right. Allister was a man of the right sort. Whether, if +circumstances had been different, he would have been content to come +back and settle down as a farmer on his father's land, it is not easy to +say. But as it was, he did not hesitate for a moment. Hamish would +never be able to do hard work. Dan might be steady enough by-and-by to +take the land; but in the meantime Shenac must not be left with a burden +of care too heavy for her. So he set himself to his work with a good +will. + +He had not come back a rich man according to the idea of riches held by +the people he had left behind him; but he was rich in the opinion of his +neighbours, and well enough off in his own opinion. That is, he had the +means of rebuilding his father's house, and of putting the farm in good +order, and something besides. He lost no time in commencing his +labours, and he worked, and made others work, with a will. There were +among the neighbours those who shook their cautious old heads when they +spoke of his energetic measures, as though they would not last long; but +this was because they did not know Allister Macivor. + +He had not been at home two days before he made up his mind that his +mother should not pass another winter in the little log-house that had +sheltered them since his father's death; and he had not been at home ten +days when preparations for the building of a new house were commenced. +Before the snow went away, stone and lime for the walls and bricks for +the chimneys were collected, and the carpenters were at work on windows +and doors. As soon as the frost was out of the ground, the cellar was +dug and stoned, and everything was prepared for the masons and +carpenters, so that when the time for the farm-work came, nothing had to +be neglected in the fields because of the work going on at the new +house. So even the slow, cautious ones among the neighbours confessed +that, as far as could be judged yet, Allister was a lad of sense; for +the true farmer will attend to his fields at the right time and in the +right way, whatever else may be neglected. + +But the house went on bravely--faster than ever house went on in those +parts before, for all things were ready to the workmen's hands. + +May-day came, and found Allister and Dan busy in taking down Angus Dhu's +fence--at least, that part of it that lay between the house-field and +the creek. + +"I didn't think the old man meant to let us have these rails," said Dan. +"Not that they are his by rights. I should not wonder if he were down +upon us, after all, for taking them away." And Dan put up his hands to +shade his eyes, as he turned in the direction of Angus Dhu's house. + +"Nonsense, Dan; I bought the rails," said Allister. + +Dan whistled. + +"If I had been you, I would have taken them without his leave," said he. + +"Pooh! and quarrelled with a neighbour for the sake of a few rails." + +"But right is right," insisted Dan. "Not that I think he would have +made much ado about it, though. The old man has changed lately. I +always think the hearing that our Shenac gave him on this very place did +him a deal of good." + +Dan looked mysterious, and Allister was a little curious. + +"I have always told you that you don't know our Shenac. Whether it is +your coming home, or my mother's not being well, that has changed her, I +can't say. Or maybe it is something else," added Dan thoughtfully. He +had an idea that others in the parish were changed as well as Shenac. +"She's changed, anyway. She's as mild as summer now. But if you had +seen her when Angus Dhu was making this fence--Elder McMillan was here;" +and Dan went off into a long account of the matter, and of other matters +of which Allister had as yet heard nothing. + +"Angus Dhu don't seem to bear malice," said he, when Dan paused. "He +has a great respect for Shenac." + +"Oh yes, of course; so have they all." And Dan launched into a +succession of stories to prove that Shenac had done wonders in the way +of winning respect. For though he had sometimes been contrary enough, +and even now thought it necessary to remind his sister that, being a +girl, she must be content to occupy but a humble place in the world, +Shenac had no more stanch friend and supporter than he. Indeed, Dan was +one who, though restless and jealous of his rights when he thought they +were to be interfered with, yielded willingly to a strong hand and +rightful authority; and he had greatly improved already under the +management of his elder brother, of whom he was not a little proud. + +"Yes," continued he, "I think they would have scattered us to the four +winds if it had not been for Shenac. She always said that you would +come home, and that we must manage to keep together till then. Man, you +should have seen her when Angus Dhu said to my mother that he doubted +that you had gone for your own pleasure, and would stay for the same. +She could not show him the door, because my mother was there, and he is +an old man; but she turned her back upon him and walked out like a +queen, and would not come in again while he stayed, though Shenac Dhu +cried, and begged her not to mind." + +"I suppose Shenac Dhu was of the same mind--that I was not to be +trusted," said Allister. + +Dan shrugged his shoulders. + +"Oh, as to that, I don't know. She's only a girl, and it does not +matter what she thinks. But how it vexed her to be told what our Shenac +said about her father." + +"But the two Shenacs were never unfriendly?" said Allister +incredulously. + +"No," said Dan; "I don't think they ever were. Partly because Shenac +yonder did not believe all I said, I suppose, and partly because she was +vexed herself with her father. Oh yes, they are fast friends, the two +Shenacs. You should have seen them the night Angus Dhu came to speak to +my mother about the letter that came from Evan. Our Shenac was as proud +of you as a hen is of one chicken, though she did not let the old man +see it; and Shenac Dhu was as bad, and said over and over again to her +father, `I told you, father, that Allister was good and true. He'll +never leave Evan; don't be afraid.' I doubt Evan was a wild lad out +yonder, Allister." + +"Not wilder than many another," said Allister gravely. "But it is a bad +place for young men, Dan. Evan was like a brother to me always." + +"You were a brother to him, at any rate," said Dan. + +"We were like brothers," said Allister. + +"Oh, well, it's all right, I daresay," said Dan. "It has come out like +a story in a book, you both coming home together. And, Allister, I was +wrong about our Shenac in one thing. She does not mind in the least +letting you do as you like. She seems all the better pleased when you +are pleased; but she was hard on me, I can tell you." + +"That's queer, too," said Allister, with a look in his eyes that made +Dan laugh in spite of himself. + +"Oh yes, I know what you are thinking: that there is a difference +between you and me. But there is a difference in Shenac too." + + + +CHAPTER FIFTEEN. + +Dan was right,--Shenac was changed. Even if Allister had not come home, +if the success of the summer's work had depended, as it had hitherto +mainly done, upon her, it would have been a very different summer from +the last. The labour, though it had been hard enough, from early +morning till night every day of the year, was not what had been worst +for her. The constant care and anxiety had been harder to bear. Not +the fear of want. That had never really troubled her. She knew that it +would never come to that with them. But the welfare of all the family +had depended on her strength and wisdom while they kept together, and +the responsibility had been too heavy for her. How much too heavy it +had been she only knew by the blessed sense of relief which followed its +removal. + +But it would have been different now, even had her cares been the same, +for a new element mingled in her life--a firm trust in God. She had +known, in a way, all along that, labour as she might, the increase must +come from God. She had always assented to her brother's gentle +reminders of the heavenly care and keeping promised to the widow and the +fatherless; but she had wearied and vexed herself, taking all the weight +of the burden, just as if there had been no promise given, no help made +sure. + +It would have been quite different now. Even failure would have brought +no such burden as had come with a sense of success before, because of +her sure and certain knowledge that all that concerned her was safe in +the best and most loving care. + +And, with Allister between her and the summer's work, she had no need to +trouble herself. Every day had strengthened her trust in him, not only +as a loving brother, but as a wise man and a good farmer; and many a +time she laughed merrily to herself as Dan's foolish words about her not +wishing to give place to Allister came to her mind. She could never +tell him or any one else how blessed was the sense of relief and peace +which his being at home gave her. She awoke every morning with the +restful feeling fresh in her heart. There was no half-conscious +planning about ways and means before her eyes were open; no shrinking +from possible encounters with Dan's idleness or wilfulness; no balancing +of possibilities as to his doing well, or doing at all, some piece of +work depending upon him. + +She heard more in the song of the birds now than just the old burden, +"It is time to be at work again." It gave her quite a sense of pleasure +now and then to find herself looking over the fields with delight just +because they were fresh and green and beautiful, and not at all because +of the tons of hay or the bushels of grain which they were to yield. Of +course it was pleasant to anticipate a good harvest, and it was pleasant +to know that there were wider fields to harvest this year, and that the +barns would be full to overflowing. It did not in the least lessen the +pleasure to know that this year success would not be due to her. +Indeed, her pride in Allister's work was quite as great as it ever had +been in her own, and the pleasure had fewer drawbacks. She could speak +of it and triumph in it, and did so with Hamish and Shenac Dhu, and +sometimes with Allister himself. + +She was happy, too, in a half-conscious coming back to the thoughts and +enjoyments of the time before their troubles had overtaken them. She +was very young still, quite young enough to grow light-hearted and +mirthful; and if her mother had been well, it would truly have seemed +like the old happy days again. + +Not that she had very much leisure even now. She did not go to the +fields; but what with the dairy and the house-work, and after a little +while the wool, she had plenty to do. There were two more cows in the +enlarged pasture, and some of the people who were busy about the new +house took their meals with them, so there was little time for lingering +over anything. Besides, the house-work, which in the busy seasons had +seemed a secondary concern, was done differently now. Shenac took pride +and pleasure in doing everything in the very best way, and in having the +house in order, the linen snow-white, and the table neatly laid; and the +little log-house was a far pleasanter home than many a more commodious +dwelling. + +If there had lingered in Angus Dhu's heart any indignation towards +Shenac for having interfered with his plans, and for having spoken her +mind to him so plainly, it was gone now. They had no more frequent +visitor than he, and few who were more welcome. His coming was for +Allister's sake, his sister used to think; and, indeed, the old man +seemed to see no fault in the young farmer. He gave him his confidence +as he had never given it to any one before. After the first meeting he +never spoke of what Allister had done for him in bringing Evan home, but +he knew it was through his care and tenderness that he had ever seen his +son's face again, and he was deeply grateful. + +There was another reason why he found pleasure in the young man's +society. He had loved Allister's father when they had been young +together, before the love of money had hardened his heart and blinded +his eyes. His long trouble and fear for his son had made him feel that +wealth is not enough to give peace. It had shaken his faith in the "god +of this world;" and as God's blessing on his sorrow softened his heart, +the worldly crust fell away, and he came back to his old thoughts--or +rather, I should say, his young thoughts of life again. + +Allister was just what his father had been at his age--as gentle, as +manly, and kind-hearted; having, besides, the strength of character, the +knowledge of men and things, which his father had lacked. He had always +been a bold, frank lad. Even in the old times he had never stood in awe +of "the dour old man," as the rest had done. In the old times his +frankness had been resented as an unwarrantable liberty; but it was very +different now. Even his own children felt a little restraint in the +presence of the stern old man; but Allister always greeted him +cheerfully, talked with him freely, and held his own opinions firmly, +though they often differed widely enough from those of Angus Dhu. But +they never quarrelled. The old man's dogmatic ways vexed and irritated +Shenac many a time; even Hamish had much ado to keep his patience and +the thread of his argument at the same time; but Allister never lost his +temper, and if the old man grew bitter and disagreeable, as he sometimes +did, the best cure for it was Allister's good-humoured determination not +to see it, and so they always got on well together. + +Of all their friends, Angus Dhu was the one whom their mother never +failed to recognise. She did not always remember how the last few years +had passed, and spoke to him, as she so often did to others, as though +her husband were still living and her children young; but almost always +she was recalled to the present by the sight of him, and rejoiced over +Allister's return, and the building of the new house, and the prosperity +which seemed to be coming back to them. But, whether she was quite +herself or not, he was always very gentle with her, answering the same +questions and telling the same incidents over and over again for her +pleasure, with a patience very different from anything that might have +been expected from him. + +There was one thing about Allister, and Shenac too, which greatly vexed +their uncle. In his eyes it seemed almost like forsaking the God of +their fathers when, Sabbath after Sabbath, they passed by the old kirk +and sat in the new. He would have excused it on the days when old Mr +Farquharson was not there and the old kirk was closed; but that they +should hold with these "new folk" at all times was a scandal in his +eyes. + +It was in vain that Hamish proved to him that in doctrine and +discipline--in everything, indeed, except one thing, which could not +affect them in this country--the new folk were just like the old. This +only made the matter less excusable in the eyes of Angus Dhu. The +separation which circumstances might have made necessary at home--as +these people still lovingly called the native land of their fathers--was +surely not needed here, and it grieved and vexed the old man sorely to +see so many leaving the old minister and the kirk their fathers had +built and had worshipped in so long. + +But even Angus Dhu himself ventured into the forbidden ground of the new +kirk, when word was brought that Mr Stewart, the schoolmaster of two +years ago, was come to supply the minister's place there for a while. +He had a great respect for Mr Stewart, and some curiosity, now that he +was an ordained minister, to hear him preach; and having heard him, he +acknowledged to himself, though he was slow to speak of it to others, +that the word of God was held forth with power, and he began to think +that, after all, the scores of young people who flocked to hear him were +as well while listening here as when sleeping quietly under the +monotonous voice of the good old minister; and very soon no objection +was made when his own Evan and Shenac Dhu went with the rest. + +Mr Stewart had changed much since he came among them first. His health +was broken then, and he was struggling with a fear that he was not to be +permitted to work the work for which he had all his lifetime been +preparing. That fear had passed away. He was well now, and well-fitted +to declare God's gospel to men. It was a labour of love to him, all +could see. The grave, quiet man seemed transformed when he stood in the +pulpit He spoke with authority, as one who knew from deep, blessed +experience the things which he made known, and no wonder that all +listened eagerly. + +Hamish was very happy in the renewal of their friendship, and Allister +was almost as happy in coming to know the minister. He came sometimes +to see them, but not very often, for he had many engagements, and his +visits made "white days" for them all. Hamish saw much more of him than +the rest, for he was comparatively idle this summer, and drove the +minister to his different preaching stations, and on his visits to the +people, with much profit to himself and much pleasure to both. + +It was a very pleasant summer, for many reasons, to Shenac and them all. +The only drawback was the state of the mother. She was not getting +better--would probably never be better, the doctor said, whom Allister +had brought from far to see her. But she might live a long time in her +present state. She did not suffer, and was almost always quite content. +All that the tenderest care could do for her was done, and her +uneventful days were made happy by her children's watchful love. + +The entire renewal of confidence and intercourse between the two +families was a source of pleasure to all, but especially to Shenac, who +had never been quite able to believe herself forgiven by her uncle +before. Two of Angus Dhu's daughters were married in the spring, and +left their father's house; and partly because she was more needed at +home, and partly for other reasons, Shenac Dhu did not run into their +house so often as she used to do. But Evan was often there. He and +Hamish were much together, for neither of them was strong, and much help +was not expected from them on the land or elsewhere. Evan was hardly +what he had been before his departure from home. He was improved, they +thought, on the whole; but his health was not firm, and his spirits and +temper were variable, and, as Shenac said, he was as different from +Allister as weakness is from strength, or as darkness is from the day. +But they were always glad to see him, and his intercourse with these +healthy, cheerful young people did him much good. + +The new house progressed rapidly. There was a fair prospect that they +might get into it before winter, and already Shenac was planning ways +and means towards the furnishing of it. The wool was sorted and dyed +with reference to the making of such a carpet as had never been seen in +those parts before; and every pound of butter that was put down was +looked upon as so much security for a certain number of things for use +or for adornment in the new house. For Shenac had a natural love for +pretty things, and it was pleasant to feel that she might gratify her +taste to a reasonable degree without hazarding the comfort of any one. + +She made no secret of her pleasure in the prospect of living in a nice +house with pretty things about her, and discussed her plans and +intentions with great enjoyment with her cousin Shenac, who did not +laugh at her little ambitions as much as might have been expected. +Indeed, she was rather grave and quiet about this time, and seemed to +shun, rather than to seek, these confidences. She was too busy now that +Mary and Annie were both gone, to leave home often, and when our Shenac +wished to see her she had to go in search of her. It was not quite so +formidable an affair as it used to be to go to Angus Dhu's house now, +and Shenac and her brother often found themselves there on summer +evenings. But at home, as elsewhere, Shenac Dhu was quiet and staid, +and not at all like the merry Shenac of former times. + +This change was not noticed by Shenac Bhan so quickly as it would have +been if she had been less occupied with her own affairs; but she did +notice it at last, and one night, drawing her away from the door-step +where the rest were sitting, she told her what she was thinking, and +entreated to know what ailed her. + +"What ails me?" repeated Shenac Dhu, reddening a little. "What in the +world should all me? I am busier than I used to be, that is all." + +"You were always busy; it is not that. I think you might tell _me_, +Shenac." + +"Well," began her cousin mysteriously, "I will tell you if you will +promise not to mention it. I am growing wise." + +Shenac Bhan laughed. + +"Well, I don't see what there is to laugh at. It's time for me to grow +wise, when you are growing foolish." + +Shenac Bhan looked at her cousin a little wistfully. + +"Am I growing foolish, Shenac? Is it about the house and all the +things? Perhaps I am thinking too much about them. But it is not for +myself, Shenac; at least, it's not all for myself." + +But Shenac Dhu stopped her. + +"You really _are_ foolish now. No; of course the house has nothing to +do with it. I called you foolish for saying that something ails me, +which is nonsense, you know. What could ail me? I put it to yourself." + +"But that is what I am asking you. How can I tell? Many a thing might +go wrong with you," said Shenac Bhan. + +"Yes; I might take the small-pox, or the bank might break and I might +lose my money, or many a thing might happen, as you say; and when +anything does happen, I'll tell you, you may be sure. Now tell me, is +the wide stripe in the new carpet to be red or green?" + +"You are laughing at me, Cousin Shenac," said our Shenac, gravely. "I +daresay it is foolish in me, and may be wrong, to be thinking so much +about these things and teasing you about them; but, Shenac, our Allister +is a man now, and folk think much of him, and I want his house to be +nice, and I do take pleasure in thinking about it. And you know we have +been so poor and so hard pressed for the last few years, with no time to +think of anything but just what must be done to live; and it will be so +nice when we are fairly settled. And, Shenac, our Allister is so good. +There never was such a brother as Allister--never. I would not speak so +to every one, Shenac; but _you_ know." + +Shenac Dhu nodded. "Yes, I know." + +"If my mother were only well!" continued Shenac Bhan, and the tears that +had risen to her eyes fell on her cheeks now. "We would be too happy +then, I suppose. But it seems sad enough that she should not be able to +enjoy it all, and take her own place in the new house, after all she has +gone through." + +"Yes," said Shenac Dhu, "it is very sad." + +"And yet I cannot but take pleasure in it; and perhaps it is foolish and +unkind to my mother too. Is it, Shenac?" + +There were two or three pairs of eyes watching--no, not watching, but +seeing--the two girls from the doorstep, and Shenac Dhu drew her cousin +down the garden-path towards the plum-tree before she answered her. +Then she put her arms round her neck, and kissed her two or three times +before she answered,-- + +"You are not wrong or foolish. You are right to take pride and pleasure +in your brother and his house, and in all that belongs to him. And he +is just as proud of you, Shenac, my darling." + +"That is nonsense, you know, Cousin Shenac," said Allister's sister; but +she smiled and blushed too, as she said it, with pure pleasure. + +There was no chance after this to say anything more about the change, +real or supposed, that had taken place in Shenac Dhu, for she talked on, +allowing no pause till they had come quite round the garden and back to +the door-step; but Shenac Bhan knew all about it before she saw her +cousin again. + +That night, as she was going home through the field with Allister, he +asked her rather suddenly,-- + +"What were you and Cousin Shenac speaking about to-night when you went +round the garden?" + +"Allister," said his sister, "do you think Cousin Shenac is changed +lately?" + +"Changed!" repeated Allister. "How?" + +"Oh, of course you cannot tell; but she used to be so merry, and now she +is quite quiet and grave, and we hardly ever see her over with us now. +I was asking her what ailed her." + +"And what did she say?" + +"Oh, she laughed at me, and denied that anything ailed her, and then she +said she was growing wise. But I know something is wrong with her, +though she would not tell me." + +"What do you think it is, Shenac?" + +"I cannot tell. It is not only that she is quieter--I could understand +that; but she hardly ever comes over now, and something is vexing her, +I'm sure. Could it be anything Dan has said? He used to vex her +sometimes. What do you think it can be, Allister?" + +There was a little pause, and then Allister said,-- + +"I think I know what it is, Shenac." + +"You!" exclaimed Shenac. "What is it? Have I anything to do with it? +Am I to blame?" + +"You have something to do with it, but you are not to blame," said +Allister. + +"Tell me, Allister," said his sister. + +There was a silence of several minutes, and then Allister said,-- + +"Shenac, I have asked Cousin Shenac to be my wife." Shenac stood +perfectly still in her surprise and dismay. Yes, she _ was_ dismayed. +I have heard it said that the tidings of a brother's engagement rarely +bring unmixed pleasure to a sister. I daresay there is some truth in +this. Many sisters make their brothers their first object in life-- +pride themselves on their talents, their worth, their success, live in +their lives, glory in their triumphs; till a day comes when it is softly +said of some stranger, or some friend--it may be none the pleasanter to +hear because it is a friend--"She is more to him than you could ever +be." Is it only to jealous hearts, ignoble minds, that such tidings +come with a shock of pain? Nay, the truer the heart the keener the +pain. It may be short, but it is sharp. The second thought may be, "It +is well for him; I am glad for him." But the pang is first, and +inevitable. + +Allister had been always first, after Hamish, in Shenac's heart--perhaps +not even after Hamish. She had never thought of him in connection with +any change of this kind. In all her plans for the future, no thought of +possible separation had come. She stood perfectly still, till her +brother touched her. + +"Well, Shenac?" + +Then she moved on without speaking. She was searching about among her +astonished and dismayed thoughts for something to say, for she felt that +Allister was waiting for her to speak. At last she made a grasp at the +question they had been discussing, and said hurriedly,-- + +"But there is nothing to vex Shenac in that, surely?" + +"No; unless she is right in thinking that you will not be glad too." + +"I am glad it is Shenac. I would rather it would be Shenac than any one +else in the whole world--" + +"I was sure of it," said her brother, kissing her fondly. + +Even without the kiss she would hardly have had the courage to add,-- + +"If it must be anyone." + +"And, Shenac," continued her brother, "you must tell her so. She +fancies that for some things you will not like it, and she wants to put +it off for ever so long--till--till something happens--till you are +married yourself, I suppose." + +Now Shenac was vexed. She was in the way--at least, Allister and Shenac +Dhu thought so. It was quite as well that the sound of footsteps gave +her no time to speak the words that rose to her lips. They were +overtaken by Mr Stewart and Hamish. It had been to see the minister +that they had all gone to Angus Dhu's, for he was going away in the +morning, and they did not know when they might see him again. It was +late, and the farewells were brief and earnest. + +"God bless you, Shenac!" was all that Mr Stewart said; and Shenac +answered never a word. + +"I'll walk a little way with you," said Allister. Hamish and Shenac +stood watching them till they passed through the gate, and then Shenac +sat down on the doorstep with a sigh, and laid her face upon her hands. +Hamish looked a little astonished, but he smiled too. + +"He will come back again, Shenac," he said at last. + +"Yes, I know," said she, rising slowly. "I must tell you before he +comes. We must not stay here. Come in; you will take cold. I don't +know what to think. He expected me to be pleased, and I shall be in a +little while, I think, after I have told you. Do you know it, Hamish?" + +"I know--he told me; but I thought he had not spoken to you," said the +puzzled Hamish. + +"Did Allister tell you? Are you glad, Hamish?" + +"Allister?" repeated Hamish. + +"Allister has asked Shenac Dhu to be his wife," said Shenac in a +whisper. + +"Is that it? No, I had not heard that, though I thought it might be-- +some time. You must have seen it, Shenac?" + +"Seen it! the thought never came into my mind--never once--till he told +me to-night." + +"Well, that's odd, too," said Hamish, smiling. "They say girls are +quick enough to see such things. Are you not pleased, Shenac?" + +"I don't know. Should I be pleased, Hamish? I think perhaps in a +little while I shall be." Then she added, "It will make a great +difference." + +"Will it?" asked Hamish. "Cousin Shenac has almost been like one of +ourselves so long." + +"I suppose it is foolish, and maybe it is wrong, but it does seem to put +Allister farther from us--from me, at least. He seems less our own." + +"Don't say that, Shenac dear," said her brother gently. "Allister can +never be less than a dear and loving brother to us all. It is very +natural and right that this should happen. It might have been a +stranger. We all love Shenac Dhu dearly." + +"Yes," said Shenac; "I said that to Allister." + +"And, Shenac, I am very glad this should happen. Allister will settle +down content, and be a good and useful man." + +"He would have done that anyway," said Shenac, a little dolefully. + +"He might, but he might not," said Hamish. "They say marriage is the +natural and proper state. I am glad for Allister, Shenac; and you will +be glad by-and-by. I wish I had known this a little sooner. I am very +glad, Shenac." + +Shenac sighed. "I suppose it is altogether mean and miserable in me not +to be glad all at once; and I'll try to be. I suppose we must stay here +now, Hamish," she added, glancing round the low room. + +"Do you think so?" said Hamish in surprise. "No, you must not say so. +I am sure it would grieve Cousin Shenac." + +"There are so many of us, Hamish, and our mother is a great care; it +would not be fair to Shenac. I must stay here and take care of my +mother and you." + +There was a long silence. + +"Shenac," said her brother at last, "don't think about this just now; +don't make up your mind. It is not going to happen soon." + +"Allister says soon, but Shenac says not till--" She stopped. + +"Well, soon or late, never mind; it will all come right. Let us be more +anxious to do right than for anything else. God will guide us, Shenac. +Don't let us say anything to vex Allister. It would vex him greatly, I +know, to think that you and all of us would not go with him and Shenac." + +"But it would not be fair to Shenac herself. Think what a large family +there is of us." + +"Whisht, Shenac, there may be fewer of us soon. You may marry +yourself." + +"And leave my mother and you?" Shenac smiled incredulously. + +"Stranger things have happened," said her brother. "But, Shenac, our +mother will not be here long, and Allister's house is her place, and you +can care for her all the same there--better indeed. I am glad of this +marriage, for all our sakes. Shenac Dhu is like one of ourselves; she +will always care for the little ones as no stranger could, and for our +mother. It _is_ a little hard that _you_ should not have the first +place in the new house for a while, till you get a home of your own, +after all the care and trouble you have had for us here--" + +"Do you think that has anything to do with it, Hamish?" said Shenac +reproachfully. "It never came into my mind; only when Allister told me +it seemed as though I would be so little to him now. Maybe you are +right, though. Everybody seems to think that I like to be first. I +know I have thought a great deal about the new house; but it has been +for the rest, and for Allister most of all." + +"Shenac, you must not vex yourself thinking about it," said her brother. +"I am more glad of this for your sake than for all the rest. I cannot +tell you how glad I am." + +"Well, I am glad too--I think I am glad; I think it will be all right, +Hamish. I am not really afraid of anything that can happen now." + +"You need not be, dear; why should you be afraid even of trouble?" said +her brother. "And this is not trouble, but a great blessing for us +all." + +But Shenac thought about it a great deal, and, I am afraid, vexed +herself somewhat, too. She did not see Shenac Dhu for a day or two, for +her cousin was away; and it was as well to have a little time to think +about it before she saw her. There came no order out of the confusion, +however, with all her thinking. That they were all to be one family she +knew was Allister's plan, and Hamish approved it, though the brothers +had not exchanged a word about the matter. But this did not seem the +best plan to her, nor did she think it would seem so to her cousin; it +was not best for any of them. She could do far better for her mother, +and Hamish too, living quietly in their present home; and the young +people would be better without them. Of course they must get their +living from the farm, at least partly; but she could do many things to +earn something. She could spin and knit, and she would get a loom and +learn to weave, and little Flora should help her. + +"If Allister would only be convinced; but they will think I am vexed +about the house, and I don't think I really cared much about it for +myself--it was for Allister and the rest. Oh, if my mother were only +able to decide it, I do think she would agree with me about it." + +She thought and thought till she was weary, and it all came to this:-- + +"I will wait and see what will happen, and I will trust. Surely nothing +can go wrong when God guides us. At any rate, I shall say nothing to +vex Allister or Shenac; but I wish it was well over." + +It was the first visit to Shenac Dhu which, partly from shyness and +partly from some other feeling, she did dread a little; but she need not +have feared it so much. She did not have to put a constraint on herself +to _seem_ glad; for the very first glimpse she caught of Shenac's sweet, +kind face put all her vexed thoughts to flight, and she was really and +truly glad for Allister and for herself too. + +She went to her uncle's one night, not at all expecting to see her +cousin; but she had returned sooner than was expected, and when she went +in she found her sitting with her father and Allister. Shenac did not +see her brother, however. She hastily greeted her uncle, and going +straight to her cousin put her arms round her neck and kissed her many +times. Shenac Dhu looked up in surprise. + +"I know it now, Cousin Shenac," said Allister's sister; and in a moment +Allister's arms were round them both. It was Angus Dhu's turn to be +surprised now. He had not been so startled since the day that Shenac +Bhan told him her mind down by the creek. The girls escaped, and +Allister explained how matters stood. The old man was pleased, but he +grumbled a little, too, at the thought of losing his last daughter. + +"You must make an exchange, Allister, my man. If you could give us your +Shenac--" + +Allister laughed. In his heart he thought his sister too good to be +sent there, and he was very glad he had not the matter to decide. + +"Shenac, my woman," said the old man as they were going away, "I wonder +at you being so willing to give up the fine new house. I think it is +very good in you." + +"I would not--to anybody else," said she, laughing. + +"But she's not going to give it up, father," said Shenac Dhu eagerly. + +"Well, well, maybe not, if you can keep her." + +Shenac still pondered over the question of what would be best for them +all, and wearied herself with it many a time; but she gave none the less +interest to the progress of the house and its belongings. She spun the +wool for the carpet, and bleached the new linen to snowy whiteness, and +made all other preparations just the same as if she were to have the +guiding and governing of the household. She was glad with Allister and +glad with Shenac, and, for herself and the rest, quite content to wait +and see what time would bring to pass. + + + +CHAPTER SIXTEEN. + +But a day came when Shenac saw how needless all her anxious thoughts +about her mother's future had been, when she acknowledged, with tears of +mingled sorrow and joy, that she had tenderer care and safer keeping +than son or daughter could give. + +All through the long harvest-days the mother failed slowly--so slowly +that even the watchful eyes of Shenac did not see how surely. Then, as +the autumn wore away, and the increasing cold no longer permitted the +daily sitting in the sunshine, the change became more rapid. Then there +was a time of sharper suffering. The long days and nights lingered out +into weeks, and then all suffering was over--the tired heart ceased to +struggle with the burden of life, and the widow was laid to rest beside +her husband and son. + +That this was a time of great sorrow in the household need not be told. +Neighbours came from far and near with offers of help and sympathy. All +that kind hearts and experienced hands could do to aid these young +people in the care of their suffering mother was done; but all was only +a little. It was the strong arm of Allister which lifted and laid down, +and moved unceasingly, the never-resting form of the mother. It was +Shenac who smoothed her pillow and moistened her lips, and performed all +the numberless offices so necessary to the sick, yet too often so +useless to soothe pain. It was the voice of Hamish that sometimes had +the power to soothe to quietness, if not to repose, the ever-moaning +sufferer. Friends came with counsel and encouragement, but her children +never left her through all. It was a terrible time to them. Their +mother's failure had been so gradual that the thought of her death had +not been forced upon them; and, quite unaccustomed to the sight of so +great suffering, as the days and nights wore on, bringing no change, no +respite, but ever the same moaning and agony, they looked into one +another's faces appalled. It was terrible; but it came to an end at +last. They could not sorrow for her when the close came. They rejoiced +rather that she had found rest. But they were motherless and desolate. + +It was a very hushed and sorrowful home that night, when all the friends +who had returned with them from the grave were gone, and the children +were alone together; and for many days after that. If this trouble had +come upon them a year ago, there would have been some danger that the +silence and sadness that rested upon them might have changed to gloom +and despondency on Shenac's part; for she felt that her mother's death +had "unsettled old foundations," and when she looked forward to what her +life might be now, it was not always that she could do so hopefully. +But she was quiet and not impatient--willing to wait and see what time +might bring to them all. + +By-and-by the affairs of the house and of the farm fell back into the +old routine, and life flowed quietly on. The new house made progress. +It was so nearly completed that they had intended to remove to it about +the time their mother became worse. The work went on through all their +time of trouble, and one after another the workmen went away; but +nothing was said of any change to be made, till the year was drawing to +a close. It was Hamish who spoke of it then, first to Shenac and then +to Allister; and before Christmas they were quite settled in their new +home. + +Christmas passed, and the new year came in, and a month or two more went +by, and then one night Shenac said to her brother,-- + +"Allister, when are you going to bring Shenac home?" + +Allister had been the gravest and quietest of them all during the time +that had passed since their mother's death. He was silent, though he +started a little when his sister spoke. In a moment she came close to +him, and standing behind him, laid her hand on his shoulder, and said +softly,-- + +"It would be no disrespect to the memory of our mother, coming now. +Hamish says so too. Shenac is not like a stranger; and it might be very +quiet." Allister turned and touched with his lips the hand that lay on +his shoulder, and then drew her down on the seat beside him. This was +one of the things which made Allister so different from other people in +Shenac's eyes. Even Hamish, loving and kind as he was, had not +Allister's gentle, caressing ways. A touch, a smile, a fond word, came +so naturally from him; and these were all the more sweet to Shenac +because she was shy of giving such tokens herself, even where she loved +best. + +"If Shenac would come," said Allister. + +Shenac smiled. "And will she not?" + +"Should I ask it now, dear?" + +"Yes, I think so," said his sister gravely. "The spring will soon be +here, and the busy time. I think it should be soon. Have you spoken to +Shenac since?" + +"No; I have not. Though I may wish it, and Shenac might consent, there +is more to be thought of. We will not have you troubled, after all you +have gone through, till you are quite ready for it--you and Hamish." + +"But surely Shenac cannot doubt I will speak to her myself; and I think +it should be soon," said his sister. + +They were sitting in the new, bright kitchen, and it was growing dark. +There was a stove in it, one of the latest kind, for use; but there was +a great wide fireplace too, for pleasure; and all the light that was in +the room came from the great maple logs and glowing embers. Little +Flora had gone to the mill with Dan, Hamish was at his uncle's, and the +other lads were not come in; so they had the house to themselves. There +was silence between them for a little while, and then his sister said +again,-- + +"I'll speak to Shenac." + +The chance to do so was nearer than she thought; for there was a touch +at the door-latch, and a voice said softly,-- + +"Are you here, Cousin Shenac? I want to speak to you. Hamish told me +you were quite alone." + +"Yes, she's quite alone, except me." And Allister made one stride +across the floor, and Shenac Dhu was held fast. She could not have +struggled from that gentle and firm clasp, and she did not try. + +"I thought you were at The Sixteenth, Allister," said she. "I was +there, but I am here now. And our Shenac wants to speak to you." + +He brought her to the fire-light, where our Shenac was waiting, a little +shyly--that is, Shenac waited shyly. Allister brought the other Shenac +forward, not at all shyly, quite triumphantly, indeed, and then our +Shenac said softly,-- + +"When are you coming home, sister Shenac?" + +With that the startled little creature gave one look into our Shenac's +face, and breaking from Allister's gentle hold, she clasped her round +the neck, and wept and sobbed in a way that astonished them more than a +little. For indeed there was no cause for tears, said Shenac Bhan; and +indeed she was very foolish to cry, said Allister--though there were +tears in his own eyes; and as for Shenac Bhan, the tears did not stay in +her eyes, but ran down over her face and fell on the soft black braids +of the other Shenac's bowed head; for joy will make tears fall as well +as sorrow sometimes, and joy and sorrow mingled is the source of these. + +But indeed, indeed, I never thought of telling all this. When I began +my story I never meant to put a word of love or marriage in it. I meant +to end it at the happy day when Allister came home. But all Shenac's +work at home was not done when her good and loving brother took the +place she had filled so well. So my story has gone on, and will go on a +little longer; though that night, when Shenac Dhu went away and Allister +went with her, leaving Shenac Bhan to her own thoughts, she said to +herself that very soon there would be nothing more for her to do. +Allister and Shenac Dhu would care for the little ones better than she +ever could have done; for the lads were wilful often, and sometimes her +patience failed, and Allister would make men of them--wise, and strong, +and gentle, like himself. And Shenac, sweet, kind, merry Shenac Dhu, +would never be hard with the lads or little Flora, for she loved them +dearly; and it would be better for the children just to have Allister +and Shenac Dhu, and no elder sister to appeal to from them. It would be +better that she should go away--at least for a little while, till other +authority than hers should be established. + +Yes; her work for the children was done. She said it over and over +again, repeating that it was better so, and that she was glad and +thankful that all would be so well. But she said it with many a tear +and many a sigh and sob; for, having no experience of life beyond her +long labour and care for them, it seemed to this foolish Shenac that +really and truly her life's work was done. No, she did not say it in +words, even to herself; but the future looked blank and bare to her. +Any future that seemed possible to her looked rather dark than bright; +and she feared--oh, so much!--to take her destiny in her hands and go +away alone. + +But not a word of all this had been spoken to Allister and Shenac Dhu. +Not even Hamish had been told of her plans. No, not her plans--she had +none--but the vague blending of wishes and fears that came with all her +thoughts of the future. There would be time enough by-and-by to tell +him; and, indeed, Shenac was a little afraid to let the light of her +brother's sense and wisdom in on all her thoughts. For Hamish had a way +of putting things in a light that made them look quite different. +Sometimes this made her laugh, and sometimes it vexed her; but, whether +or not, the chances were she would come round in time to see things as +he saw them. + +And, besides, there was something in this matter that she could not tell +to Hamish--at least, it seemed to her that she could not, even if it +would be right and kind to do so; and without this she feared that her +wish to go away from home might not commend itself to him. Indeed, if +it had not been for this thing which could not be told, she might not +have wished to leave home. She would hardly have found courage to break +away from them all and go to a new, untried life, of her own free will, +even though her work at home were done. + +This was the thing which Shenac thought she never could tell even to +Hamish. One night, on her way home from his house, she had been waylaid +by Angus Dhu, and startled out of measure by a request, nay, an +entreaty, that "she would be kind to poor Evan." Then the old man had +gone on to say how welcome she would be if she would come home and be +the daughter of the house when his Shenac went to Allister. He told her +how fondly she should be cherished by them all, and how everything +within and without should be ordered according to her will; for he was +sure that union with one of her firm yet gentle nature was just what was +needed to make a good man of his wayward lad. She had listened, because +she could not break away, wishing all the time that the earth would open +and that she might creep away into the fissure and get out of sight. +For, indeed, she had never thought of such a thing as that. Nor Evan +either, she was sure--she thought--she did not know. Oh, well, perhaps +he had thought of it, and had tried to make it known to her in his +foolish way. But she never really would have found it out or thought +about it if his father had not spoken; and now she would never be able +to think about anything else in the presence of either. + +It was too bad, and wrong, and miserable, and uncomfortable, and I don't +know what else, she said to herself, for it could never be--never. And +yet, why not? It would seem natural enough to people generally; her +aunt would like it, her uncle's heart was set on it, and Allister and +Shenac Dhu would be pleased. Even Hamish would not object. And Evan +himself? Oh, no; it could never be. She would never care for him in +that way. He was not like Allister, nor like any one she cared for--so +different from--from--Shenac was sitting alone in the dark, but she +suddenly dropped her face in her hands. For quite unbidden, with a +shock of surprise and pain that made her heart stand still for a moment, +and then set it beating wildly, a name had come to her lips--the name of +one so wise and good in her esteem that to speak it at such a time, even +in her thoughts, seemed desecration. + +"I am growing foolish, I think, with all this vexation and nonsense; and +I won't think about it any more. I have enough to keep me busy till +Shenac Dhu comes home, and then I'll have it out with Hamish." + +The wedding was a very quiet one. It was hardly a wedding at all, said +the last-married sisters, who had gone away amid feasting and music. +There was no groomsman nor bridesmaid, for Shenac Bhan could hardly +stand in her black dress, and Shenac Dhu would have no one else; and +there were no guests out of the two families. Old Mr Farquharson came +up one morning, and it was "put over quietly," as Angus Dhu said; and +after dinner, which might have served half the township both for +quantity and quality, Allister and his bride went away for their wedding +trip, which was only to the town of M--- to see Christie More and make a +few purchases. They were to be away a week--certainly no longer--and +then the new life was to begin. + +Shenac Bhan stood watching till they were out of sight; and then she +stood a little longer, wondering whether she might not go straight home +without turning into the house. No; she could not. They were all +expected to stay the rest of the day and have tea, and visit with her +cousins, who lived at some distance, and had been little in their +father's house since they went to their own. + +"Mind you are not to stay away, Hamish, bhodach," whispered Shenac, as +they turned towards the house; and Hamish, who had been thinking of it, +considered himself in honour bound to return after he had gone to see +that all was right at home. + +It was not so very bad, after all. The two young wives were full of +their own affairs, and compared notes about the butter and cheese-making +which they had carried on during the summer, and talked about flannel +and full-cloth and the making of blankets in a way that must have set +their mother's heart at rest about their future as notable +house-keepers. And Shenac Bhan listened and joined, seemingly much +interested, but wondering all the time why she did not care a pin about +it all. Flannel and full-cloth, made with much labour and pains, as the +means of keeping Hamish and little Flora and the lads from the cold, had +been matters of intense interest; and butter put down, and cheese +disposed of, as the means of getting sugar and tea and other things +necessary to the comfort of her mother and the rest, had been prized to +their utmost value. But flannel and full-cloth, butter and cheese, were +in themselves, or as a means of wealth, matters of indifference. +Allister's good heart and strong arm were between them and a struggle +for these things now; and that made the difference. + +But, as she sat listening and wondering, Shenac did not understand all +this, and felt vexed and mortified with herself at the change. Annie +and Mary, her cousins, were content to look forward to a long routine of +spinning and weaving, dairy-work and house-work, and all the rest. Why +should she not do the same? She used to do so. No; she used to work +without looking forward. She could do so still, if there were any need +for it--any good in it--if it were to come to anything. But to work on +for yards of flannel and pounds of butter that Flora and the rest, and +all the world indeed, would be just as well without--the thought of that +was not pleasant. + +She grew impatient of her thoughts, as well as the talk, at last, and +went to help her aunt to set out the table for tea. This was better. +She could move about and chat with her concerning the cream-cheese made +for the occasion, and of the cake made by Shenac Dhu from a recipe sent +by Christie More, of which her mother had stood in doubt till it was +cut, but no longer. Then there were the new dishes of the bride, which +graced the table--pure white, with just a little spray of blue. They +were quite beautiful, Shenac thought. Then her aunt let her into the +secret of a second set of knives and forks--very handsome, which even +the bride herself had not seen yet; and so on till Hamish came in with +Angus Dhu. Then Shenac could have cried with vexation, she felt so +awkward and uncomfortable under the old man's watchful, well-pleased +eye; and when Evan and the two Dans came in it was worse. She laid +hands on a long grey stocking, her aunt's work, and betook herself to +the corner where Annie and Mary were still talking more earnestly than +ever. She startled them by the eagerness with which she questioned +first one and then the other as to the comparative merits of madder +and--something else--for dyeing red. It was a question of vital +importance to her, one might have supposed, and it was taken up +accordingly. Mrs McLay thought the other thing was best--gave much the +brighter colour; but Mrs McRea declared for the madder, because, +instead of fading, it grew prettier the longer it was worn and the +oftener it was washed. But each had enough to say about it; and this +lasted till the lads and little Flora came in from their play, and +Shenac busied herself with them till tea was ready. After tea they had +worship, and sung a little while, and then they went home. + +"Oh, what a long day this has been!" said Shenac, as they came in. + +"Yes; I fancied you were a little weary of it all," said Hamish. + +"It would be terrible to be condemned to do nothing but visit all one's +life. It is the hardest work I ever undertook--this doing nothing," +said Shenac. + +Hamish laughed. + +"Well, there is comfort in knowing that you have not had much of that +kind of work to do in your lifetime, and are not likely to have." + +There were several things to attend to after coming home, and by the +time all these were out of the way the children had gone to bed, and +Hamish and Shenac were alone. + +"I may as well speak to Hamish to-night," said Shenac to herself. "Oh +dear! I wish it were well over. If Hamish says it is right to go, I +shall be sure I am right, and I shall not be afraid. But I must go--I +think it will be right to go--whether Hamish thinks so or not. Hamish +can do without me; but how shall I ever do without him?" + +She sat looking into the fire, trying to think how she should begin, and +started a little when Hamish said,-- + +"Well, Shenac, what is it? You have something to tell me." + +"I am going to ask you something," said his sister gravely. "Do you +think it is wrong for me to wish to go away from home--for a while, I +mean?" + +"From home? Why? When? Where? It all depends on these things," said +Hamish, laughing a little. + +"Hamish, what should I do?" asked his sister earnestly. "I cannot do +much good by staying here, can I? Ought I to stay? Don't tell me that +I ought not to go away--that you have never thought of such a thing." + +"No, I cannot tell you that, Shenac; for I have thought a great deal +about it; and I believe you ought to go--though what we are to do +without you is more than I can tell." + +So there were to be no objections from Hamish. She said to herself that +was good, and she was glad; but her heart sank a little too, and she was +silent. + +"You have been thinking about us and caring for us all so long, it is +time we were thinking what is good for you," said Hamish. + +"You are laughing at me, Hamish." + +"No, I am not. I think it would be very nice for us if you would be +content to stay at home and do for us all as you have been doing; but it +would not be best for you." + +"It would be best for me if it were needful," said Shenac eagerly; "but, +Hamish, it is not much that I could do here now. I mean Allister and +Shenac Dhu will care for you all; and just what I could do with my hands +is not much. Anybody could do it." + +"And you think you could do higher work somewhere else?" + +"Not higher work, Hamish. But I think there must be work somewhere that +I could do better--more successfully--than I can do on the farm. Even +when I was doing most, before Allister came, Dan could go before me when +he cared to do it. And he did it so easily, forgetting it all the +moment it was out of his hand; while I vexed myself and grew weary +often, with planning and thinking of what was done and what was still to +do. I often feel now it was a wild thing in us to think of carrying on +the farm by ourselves. If I had known all, I would hardly have been so +bold with Angus Dhu that day." + +"But it all ended well. You did not undertake more than you carried +through," said Hamish. + +"No; it kept us all together. But, Hamish, I often think that Allister +came home just in time. If it had gone on much longer, I must either +have given out or become an earth-worm at last, with no thought but how +to slave and save and turn everything to account." + +"I don't think that would ever have happened, Shenac," said her brother. +"But I think it was well for us all, and especially for you, that +Allister came home just when he did." + +"I don't mean that field-labour may not in some cases be woman's work. +For a girl living at home, of course, it must be right to help in +whatever way help is needed; but I don't think it is the work a woman +should choose, except just to help with the rest. Surely I can learn to +do something else. If I were to go to Christie More, she could find a +place of some kind for me. Don't you mind, Hamish, what she once said +about our going with her to M---, you and me? Oh, if we could only go +together!" + +But Hamish shook his head. + +"No, Shenac. It would be useless for me. I must be far stronger than I +am now to undertake anything of that kind. And you must not be in a +hurry to get away. You must not let Shenac think you are running away +from her. Wait a while. A month or two will make no difference, and by +that time the way will open before us. I don't like the thought of your +taking any place that Christie More could get for you. You will be far +better at home for a while." + +"But, Hamish, you really think it will be better for me to go?" + +"Yes--some time. Why should you be in haste? Is there any reason that +you have not told me why you should wish to go?" + +Shenac did not answer for a moment. + +"Is it about Evan, Shenac?" asked her brother. "That could never be, I +suppose." + +"Who told you, Hamish? No; I think it could never be. Allister would +like it, and Shenac Dhu; and I suppose to folk generally it would seem a +good thing for me. But I don't like Evan in that way. No, I don't +think it could ever be." + +"Evan will be a rich man some day, Shenac; and you could have it all +your own way there." + +"Yes; Allister said that to me once. They all seem to think I would +like to rule and to be rich. But I did not think you would advise me +because of that, Hamish, or because Evan will be a rich man." + +"I am not advising you, Shenac," said Hamish eagerly. "If you cared for +Evan it would be different; but I am very glad you do not." + +"I might come to care for him in time," said Shenac, a little wearily. +"But I never thought about him in that way till--till Angus Dhu spoke to +me." + +"Angus Dhu!" exclaimed Hamish. + +"Yes--and frightened me out of my wits," said Shenac, laughing a little. +"I never answered a word, and maybe he thinks that I am willing. +Allister spoke about it too. Would it please you, Hamish? I might come +to like him well enough, in time." + +"No, Shenac. It would by no means please me. I am very glad you do not +care for Evan--in that way. I would not like to see you Evan's wife." + +There was not much said after that, though they sat a long time together +in the firelight. + +"Did I tell you that I had a letter from Mr Stewart to-day, Shenac?" +Hamish asked at last. + +"No," said Shenac; "was he well?" + +"He has a call to be minister of the church in H---, and he is to go +there soon; and he says if he can possibly do it he will come this way. +It will be in six weeks or two months, if he comes at all." + +Shenac said nothing to this; but when Hamish had added a few more +particulars, she said,-- + +"Perhaps it may seem foolish, Hamish, but I want to go soon." + +"Because of Evan?" asked her brother. + +"Partly; or rather, because of Angus Dhu," she said, laughing. "And +Allister and Shenac would like it." + +"But they would never urge it against your will." + +"No; I suppose not. But it is uncomfortable; and, Hamish, it is not +impossible that I might let myself be persuaded." + +Hamish looked grave. + +"I don't know but it is the best thing that could happen to me," Shenac +continued. "I am not fit for any other life, I am afraid. But I must +go away for a while at any rate." + +Hamish said nothing, though he looked as if he had something to say. + +"If you are willing, Hamish, it will go far to satisfy Allister. And I +can come back again if I should find nothing to do." + + + +CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. + +But Shenac's work at home was not all done yet. Sitting that night by +the fireside with her brother, could she have got a glimpse of the next +few months and all they were to bring about, her courage might have +failed her; for sorrowful as some of the past days had been, more +sorrowful days were awaiting her--sorrowful days, yet sweet, and very +precious in remembrance. + +A very quiet and happy week passed, and then Allister and his wife came +home. There was some pleasure-seeking then, in a quiet way; for the +newly-married pair were entertained by their friends, and there were a +few modest gatherings in the new house, and the hands of the two Shenacs +were full with the preparations, and with the arrangement of new +furniture, and making all things as they ought to be in the new house. + +But in the midst of the pleasant bustle Hamish fell ill. It was not +much, they all thought--a cold only, which proved rather obstinate and +withstood all the mild attempts made with herb-drinks and applications +to remove it. But they were not alarmed about it. Even when the doctor +was sent for, even when he came again of his own accord, and yet again, +they were not much troubled. For Hamish had been so much better all the +winter. He had had no return of his old rheumatic pains. He would soon +be well again, they all said,--except himself; and he said nothing. +They were inclined to make light of his present illness, rejoicing that +he was no longer racked with the terrible pains that in former winters +had made his nights sleepless and his days a weariness. He suffered +now, especially at first, but not as he had suffered then. + +All through March he kept his bed, and through April he kept his room; +but he was comfortable, comparatively--only weak, very weak. He could +read, and listen to reading, and enjoy the family conversation; and his +room became the place where, in the gloaming, all dropped in to have a +quiet time. This room had been called during the building of the house +"the mother's room," but when Hamish became ill it was fitted up for +him. It was a pleasant room, having a window which looked towards the +south over the finest fields of the farm, and one which looked west, +where the sun went down in glory, over miles and miles of unbroken +forest. + +Even now, though years have passed since then, Shenac, shutting her +eyes, can see again the fair picture which that western window framed. +There is the mingling of gorgeous colours--gold, and crimson, and +purple, fading into paler tints above. There is the glory of the +illuminated forest, and on this side the long shadows of the trees upon +the hills. Within, there is the beautiful pale face, radiant with a +light which is not all reflected from the glory without--her brother's +dying face. + +Now, when troubles come, when fightings without and fears within assail +her, when household cares make her weary, and the thought of guiding +wayward hearts and wandering feet makes her afraid, the remembrance of +this room comes back to her as the remembrance of Bethel or Peniel must +have come to Jacob in his after-wanderings, and her strength is renewed. +For there _she_ met God face to face. There she was _smitten_, and +there the same hand healed her. There she tasted the sweetness of the +cup of bitterness which God puts to the lips of those of his children +who humbly and willingly, through grace which he gives, drink it to the +dregs. The memory of that room and the western window is like the +memory of the stone which the prophet set up--"The stone of help." + +"I will trust, and not be afraid." + +"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will +fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort +me." + +The words seem to come again from the dear dying lips; and as they were +surely his to trust to, to lean on when nought else could avail, so in +all times of trouble Shenac knows that they are most surely hers. + +But much sorrow came before the joy. March passed, and April, and +May-day came, warm and bright this year again; and for the first time +for many weeks Hamish went out-of-doors. He did not go far; just down +to the creek, now flowing full again, to sit a little in the sunshine, +with a plaid about his shoulders and another under his feet. It was +pleasant to feel the wind in his face. All the sights and sounds of +spring were pleasant to him--the gurgle of the water, the purple tinge +on the woods, the fields growing fair with a tender green. + +Allister left the plough in the furrow, and came striding down the long +field, just to say it was good to see him there. Dan shouted, "Well +done, Hamish, lad!" in the distance; and little Flora risked being too +late for the school, in her eagerness to gather a bunch of spring +flowers for him. As for Shenac, she was altogether triumphant. There +was no cloud of care darkening the brightness of her loving eyes, no +fear from the past or for the future resting on her face. Looking at +her, and at his fair little sister tying up her treasures for him, +Hamish for a moment longed--oh, so earnestly!--to live, for their sakes. + +Hidden away among Flora's most precious treasures is a faded bunch of +spring-flowers, tied with a thread broken from the fringe of the plaid +on which her brother sat that day; and looking at them now, she knows +that when Hamish took them from her hand, and kissed and blessed her +with loving looks, it was with the thought in his heart of the long +parting drawing near. But she did not dream of it then, nor did Shenac. +He watched with wistful eyes the little figure dancing over the field +and down the road, saying softly as she disappeared,-- + +"I would like to live a little while, for their sakes." + +Shenac did not catch the true sense of his words, and mistaking him, she +said eagerly,-- + +"Ah, yes, if we could manage it--you and Flora and I. Allister might +have the lads; he will make men of them. I am not wise enough nor +patient enough. But you and Flora and I--it would be so nice for us to +live together till we grow old." And Shenac cast longing looks towards +the little log-house where they had lived so long and so happily. + +But Hamish shook his head. "I doubt it can never be, my Shenac." + +"No, I suppose not," said Shenac, with a sigh; "for Allister is to take +down the old house--the dear old shelter--to make the garden larger. He +is an ambitious lad, our Allister," she added laughing, "and means to +have a place worthy of the chief of the clan. But, somewhere and some +time, we'll have a wee house together, Hamish--you and I and Flora. +Don't shake your wise head, lad. There is nothing that may not happen-- +some time. + +"Do you remember, Hamish," she continued (and her voice grew low and +awed as she said it)--"do you remember the night you were so ill? I did +not say it to you, but I feared that night that you were going to die, +and I said to myself, if God would spare you to my prayers, I would +never doubt nor despond again; I would trust God always. And I will." + +"But, Shenac, what else could you do but trust God if I were to die?" +asked her brother gravely. "My living or dying would make no difference +as to that." + +"But, Hamish, that is not what I mean. It may seem a bold thing to say, +but I think God heard my prayer that night, and spared you to us; and it +would seem so wrong, so ungrateful, to doubt now. All will be for the +best now, I am sure, now that he has raised you up again." + +"For a little while," said Hamish softly. "But, Shenac, all will be for +the best, whether I live or die. You do not need me to tell you that, I +am sure." + +"But you _are_ better," said Shenac eagerly, a vague trouble stirring at +her heart. + +"Surely I am better. But that is not the question. I want you to say +to me that you will trust and not be afraid even if I were to die, +Shenac, my darling. Think where your peace and strength come from, +think of Him in whom you trust; and what difference can the staying or +going of one like me make, if He is with you?" + +For just a moment it was clear to Shenac how true this was--how safe +they are whom God keeps, how much better than a brother's love is the +love divine, which does not shield from all suffering, but which most +surely saves from all real evil. + +"Yes, Hamish," she said humbly, "I see it. But, oh, I am glad you are +better again!" + +But was he really better? Shenac asked herself the question many a time +in the days that followed. For the May that had come in so brightly +was, after all, a dreary month. There were some cold days and some +rainy days, and never a day, till June came, that was mild enough for +Hamish to venture out again. And when he did, it was not on the hillock +by the creek where Shenac spread the plaid, but close to the end of the +old log-house, where the mother used to sit in the sunshine. For the +creek seemed a long way off to Hamish now. When Allister came down the +hill to speak to his brother, it came into Shenac's mind that his face +was graver, and his greeting not so cheery, as it had been that May-day. +As for Dan, he did not hail him as he had done then, but only looked a +moment with wistful eyes, and then went away. + +"Truly, the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to +behold the sun," said Hamish softly, as he leaned back against the wall. +"I thought, the last time I was out, that nothing could be lovelier +than the sky and the fields were then; but they are lovelier to-day. It +helps one to realise `the living green' that the hymn speaks about, +Shenac:-- + + "`There everlasting spring abides, + And never-withering flowers,'" + +he murmured. + +But Shenac had no answer ready. Day by day she was coming to the +knowledge of what must be, but she could not speak about it yet. Nay, +she had never really put it to herself in words that her brother was +going to die. She had all these days been putting the fear from her, as +though by that means she might also put away the cause. Now in the +sunshine it looked her in the face, and would not be put aside. But, +except that she sat very still and was very pale, she gave no token of +her thoughts to Hamish; and if he noticed her, he said nothing. + +"Shenac," said he in a little while, "when Allister takes away the poor +old house to make the garden larger, he should make a summer-seat here, +just where the end of the house comes, to mind you all of my mother and +me. Will you tell him, Shenac?" + +"He may never change the garden as he thought to do," answered Shenac. +"He will have little heart for the plans we have all been making." + +"Yes, just at first, I know; but afterwards, Shenac. Think of the years +to come, when Allister's children will be growing up about him. He will +not forget me; but he will be quite happy without me, as the time goes +on; and you too, Shenac. It is well that it should be so." + +Shenac neither assented nor denied. Soon Hamish continued:-- + +"I thought it would be my work to lay out the new garden. I would like +to have had the thought of poor lame Hamish joined with the change; but +it does not really matter. You will not forget me; but, Shenac, +afterwards you must tell Allister about the summer-seat." + +"Afterwards!" Ah, well, there would be time enough for many a thing +afterwards--for the tears and bitter cries which Shenac could only just +keep back, for the sickness of the heart that would not be driven away. +Now she could only promise quietly that afterwards Allister should be +told; and then gather closer about him the plaid, which her brother's +hand had scarcely strength to hold. + +"You are growing weary, Hamish," she said. + +"Yes," said Hamish; and they rose to go. But first they would go into +the old house for a moment, for the sake of old times. + +"For, with all your cares, and all my painful days and nights, we were +very happy here, Shenac," said Hamish, as the wide, low door swung back +and they stepped down into the room. Oh, how unspeakably dreary it +looked to Shenac--dreary, though so familiar! There was a bedstead in +the room yet, and some old chairs; and the heavy bunk, which was hardly +fit for the new house. There was the mother's wheel, too; and on the +walls hung bunches of dried herbs and bags of seeds, and an old familiar +garment or two. There was dust on the floor, and ashes and blackened +brands were lying in the wide fireplace, and the sunshine streaming in +on all through the open door. Shenac shivered as she entered, but +Hamish looked round with a smile, and with eyes that were taking +farewell of them all. Even in her bitter pain she thought of him first. +She made him sit down on the bunk, and gathered the plaid about him +again, for the air was chill. + +It all came back: the many, many times she had seen him sitting there, +in health and in sickness, in sorrow and in joy; all their old life, all +the days that could never, never come again. Kneeling down beside him, +she laid her head upon his breast, and just this once--the first time +and the last in his presence--gave way to her grief. + +"O Hamish! Hamish, bhodach! Must it be? Must it be?" He did not +speak. She did not move till she felt tears that were not her own +falling on her face. Then she rose, and putting her arms round him, she +made him lean on her, all the while softly soothing him with hand and +voice. + +"I am grieved for you, my Shenac," said he. "We two have been nearer to +each other than the rest. You have not loved me less because I am +little and lame, but rather more for the trouble I have been to you; and +I know something will be gone from your life when I am not here." + +"Oh, what will be left?" said Shenac. + +"Shenac, my darling, I know something that you do not know, and I see +such a beautiful life before you. You are strong. There is much for +you to do of the very highest work--God's work; and then at the end we +shall meet all the happier because of the heart-break now." + +But beyond the shadow that was drawing nearer, Shenac's eyes saw +nothing, and she thought indeed that her heart was breaking--dying with +the sharpness of the pain. + +"It won't be long, at the very longest; and after just the first, there +are many happy days waiting you." + +Shenac withdrew herself from her brother, she trembled so, and slipping +down beside him, she laid her face on his bosom again. Then followed +words which I shall not write down--words of prayer, which touched the +sore place in Shenac's heart as they fell, but which came back +afterwards many a time with a comforting and healing power. + +All through the long summer afternoon Hamish slumbered and woke and +slumbered again, while his sister sat beside him, heart-sick with the +dread, which was indeed no longer dread, but sorrowful certainty. + +"It is coming nearer," she said to herself, over and over again--"it is +coming nearer." But she strove to quiet herself, that her face might be +calm for his waking eyes to rest upon. + +Allister and his wife came in as usual to sit a little while with him, +when the day's work was done; and then Shenac slipped away, to be alone +a little while with her grief. An hour passed, and then another, and a +third was drawing to a close, and she did not return. + +"She must have fallen asleep. She is weary with the long day," said +Hamish. "And you are weary too, Allister and Shenac. Go to bed. I +shall not need anything till my Shenac comes." + +Shenac Dhu went out and opened the door of her sister's room. Little +Flora was sleeping sweetly, but there was no Shenac. Very softly she +went here and there, looking and listening in vain. The late moon, just +rising, cast long shadows on the dewy grass as she opened the door and +looked out. The pleasant sounds of a summer night fell on her ear, but +no human voice mingled with the music. All at once there came into her +mind the remembrance of the brother and sister as they sat in the +afternoon at the old house-end, and, hardly knowing why, she went +through the yard and down the garden-path. All was still without, but +from within the house there surely came a sound. + +Yes; it was the sound of weeping--not loud and bitter, but as when a +"weaned child" has quieted itself, and sobs and sighs through its +slumbers. + +"Alone with God and her sorrow!" + +Shenac Dhu dared not enter; nor shall we. When a stricken soul lies in +the dust before God, no eye should gaze, no lip tell the story. Who +would dare to speak of the mystery of suffering and blessing through +which a soul passes when God first smites, then heals? What written +words could reveal his secret of peace spoken to such a one? + +That night all the grief of Shenac's sore heart was spread out before +the Lord. All the rebellion of the will that clung still to an earthly +idol rose up against him; and in his loving-kindness and in the +multitude of his tender mercies he had compassion upon her. That night +she "did eat angels' food," on the strength of which she went for many a +day. + +Shenac Dhu still listened and waited, meaning to steal away unseen; but +when the door opened, and the moonlight fell on her sister's +tear-stained face, so pale and calm, now that the struggle was over, she +forgot all else, and clung to her, weeping. Shenac did not weep; but, +weary and spent with the long struggle, she trembled like a leaf, and, +guiding each other through the dim light, they went home. + +Shenac Dhu was herself again when she crossed the threshold, and when +her cousin would have turned towards the door of her brother's room, she +gently but firmly drew her past it. + +"No; it is Allister's turn and mine to-night," she said; and Shenac had +no strength to resist, but suffered herself to be laid down by little +Flora's side without a word. + +She rose next morning refreshed; and after this all was changed. She +gave Hamish up after that night; or, rather, she had given up her own +will, and waited that God's will might be done in him and in her. It +was not that she suffered, and had strength to hide her suffering from +her brother's eye. She did not suffer as she had done before. She did +not love her brother less, but she no longer grudged him to his Lord and +hers. It was not that for him the change would be most blessed, nor +that for her the waiting would not be long. It was because God willed +that her brother should go hence; and therefore she willed it too. + +And what blessed days those were that followed! Surely never traveller +went down the dark valley cheered by warmer love or tenderer care. +There was no cloud, no shadow of a cloud, between the brother and sister +after that night. Though Shenac never said it, Hamish knew that after +that night she gave him up and was at peace. It was a peaceful time to +all the household, and to the friends who came now and then to see them; +but there was more than peace in the hallowed hours to the brother and +sister. It was a foretaste of "the rest that remaineth." To one, that +rest was near. Between it and the other lay life--it might be long--a +life of care and labour and trial; but to her the rest "remaineth" all +the same. + +He did not suffer much--just enough to make her loving care constant and +very sweet to him--just enough to make her not grudge too much, for his +sake, the passing of the days. Oh, how peacefully they glided on! The +valley was steep, but it never was dark. Not a shadow, to the very +last, came to dim the brightness of those days; and in remembrance the +brightness lingers still. + + + +CHAPTER EIGHTEEN. + +But I must go back again to the June days when Shenac's peace was new. +The light came in through the western window, not from the sun, but from +the glory he had left behind; and with his face upturned towards the +golden clouds, Hamish sat gazing, as if he saw heaven beyond. + +"Ready and waiting!" thought Shenac--"ready and waiting!" + +For a moment she thought she must have spoken the words aloud, as her +brother turned and said,-- + +"I have just one thing left to wish for, Shenac. If I could only see +Mr Stewart once again." + +"He said he would come, dear, in August or September," said Shenac, +after a moment's pause. + +"I shall not see him, then," said Hamish softly. + +"He might come sooner, perhaps, if he knew," said Shenac. "Allister +might write to him." + +"I so long to see him!" continued Hamish. "I do love him so, Shenac +dear--next to you, I think. Indeed, I know not which I love best. Oh, +I could never tell you all the cause I have to love him." + +"He would be sure to come," said his sister. + +"I want to see him because I love him, and because he loves me, and +because--" He paused. + +"Have you anything to say to him that I could tell him afterwards? But +he will be sure to come." + +"You could write and ask him, Shenac." + +"Yes; oh yes. Only Allister could do it better," said Shenac; "but I +could let him know that you are longing to see him again." + +But it was Hamish himself who wrote--two broken lines, very unlike the +letters he used to take so much pains to make perfect. But the +irregular, almost illegible, characters were eloquent to his friend; and +in a few days there came an answer, saying that in a day or two business +would bring him within fifty miles of their home, and it would go hard +with him if he could not get a day for his friend. And almost as soon +as his letter he himself came. He had travelled all night to accomplish +it, and must travel all night again; but in the meantime there was a +long summer day before them. + +A long, happy day it was, and long to be remembered. They had it mostly +to themselves. All the morning Mr Stewart sat beside the low couch of +Hamish, and spoke or was silent as he had strength to listen or reply. +On the other side sat Shenac, never speaking, never moving, except when +her brother needed her care. + +Once, when Hamish slumbered, Mr Stewart, touching her bowed head with +his hand, whispered,-- + +"Is it well?" And Shenac answered, "It is well. I would not have it +otherwise." + +"And afterwards?" said her friend. + +"I cannot look beyond," she murmured. + +He stooped to whisper,-- + +"I will not fear, though the earth be removed, though the mountains be +cast into the midst of the sea." + +"I am not afraid," said Shenac. "I do not think when the time comes I +shall be afraid." + +After that Mr Stewart carried Hamish out to the end of the house, and +there they were alone. When they came in again, one and another of his +friends came to see Mr Stewart, and Hamish rested. As it grew dark, +they all gathered in to worship, and then it was time for Mr Stewart to +go. When all was ready, and he came to say farewell, Hamish slumbered. +Shenac stooped down and spoke his name. Mr Stewart bent over him and +kissed him on the brow and lips. As he raised himself, the closed eyes +opened, and the smiling lips murmured, as Shenac stooped again to catch +the words,-- + +"He will come again, to care for you always. I could hardly have borne +to leave my Shenac, but for that." + +Shenac lifted her startled eyes to Mr Stewart's face. + +"Is he wandering?" she asked. + +"No. Will you let me care for you always, Shenac, good and dear child?" + +Shenac did not catch the true meaning of his words, but she saw that his +lip quivered, and the hand he held out trembled; so she placed hers in +it for a farewell. Then he kissed her as he had kissed her brother, and +then he went away. + +There was no break in the long summer days after this. Sabbaths and +weekdays were all the same in the quiet room. Once or twice Hamish was +carried in Allister's strong arms to the door, or to the seat at the end +of the house, and through almost all July he sat for an hour or two each +day in the great chair by the western window. But after August came in, +the only change he had was between his bed and the low couch beside it. +He did not suffer much pain, but languor and restlessness overpowered +him often; and then the strong, kind arms of his elder brother never +were wearied, even when the harvest-days were longest, but bore him from +bed to couch, and from couch to bed again, till he could rest at last. +Sometimes, when he could rest nowhere else, he would slumber a little +while with his head on his sister's shoulder, and her arms clasped about +him. + +When a friend came in to sit with him for a while, or when he was easy +or slumbered through the day, Shenac made herself busy with household +matters; for, what with the milk and the wool and the harvest-people, +Shenac Dhu had more than she could well do, even with the help of her +handmaid Maggie, and her sister strove to lighten the labour. But the +care of her brother was the work that fell to her now, and at night she +never left him. She slept by snatches in the great chair when he slept, +and whiled away the wakeful hours when his restless turns came on. + +She was not doing too much for her strength; she was quite fit for it +all. The neighbours were more than kind, and many of them would gladly +have shared the watching at night with her; but Hamish was not used to +have any one else about him, and it could hardly be called watching, for +she slept all she needed. And, besides, it was harvest-time, and all +were busy in the fields, and those who worked all day could not watch at +night. She was quite well--a little thin and pale--"bleached," her aunt +said, by being in the house and not out in the harvest-field; but she +was always alert and cheerful. + +The coming sorrow was more hers than any of the others. They all +thought with dismay of the time when Shenac should be alone, with half +her heart in the grave of Hamish. But she did not look beyond the end +to that time, and sought no sympathy because of this. + +It is a happy, thing that they who bear the burdens of others by this +means lighten their own; and Shenac, careful for her young brothers and +little Flora, anxious that the few hushed moments in their brother's +room--his prayers, his loving words, his gentle patience, his immortal +hope--should henceforth be blended with all their inward life, never to +be forgotten, never to be set aside, thought more of them than of +herself through all those days and nights of waiting. + +When a sudden shower or a rainy day gave the harvesters a little +leisure, she used to make herself busy in the house that Dan might feel +himself of use to Hamish, and might hear, with no one else to listen, a +sweet, persuasive word or two from his dying brother's lips. + +For Shenac's heart yearned over her brother Dan. He did so need some +high aim, some powerful motive of action, some strengthening, guiding +principle of life. All need this; but Dan more than others, she +thought. If he did not go straight to the mark, he would go very far +astray. He would soon be his own master, free to guide himself, and he +would either do very well or very ill in life; and there had been times, +even since the coming home of Allister, when Shenac feared that "very +ill" it was to be. + +And yet at one time he had seemed not very far from the kingdom. During +all the long season of religious interest, no one had seemed more +interested, in one way, than he. Without professing to be personally +earnest in the matter, he had attended all the meetings, and watched-- +with curiosity, perhaps, but with awe and interest too--the coming out +from the world of many of his companions, their changed life, their +higher purpose. But all this had passed away without any real change to +himself, and, as a reaction from that time, Dan had grown a little more +than careless--very willing to be called careless, and more, by some who +grieved, and by others who laughed. + +So Shenac watched and prayed, and forgot herself in longings that, amid +the influences of a time so solemn and so sweet, Dan might find that +which should make him wise and strong, and place him far beyond all her +doubts and fears for ever. + +It was a day in the beginning of harvest--a rainy day, coming after so +long a time of drought and dust and heat that all rejoiced in it, even +though it fell on golden sheaves and on long swaths of new-cut grain. +It was not a misty, drizzling rain; it came down with a will in sudden +showers, leaving little pools in the chip-yard and garden-paths. Every +now and then the clouds broke away, as if they were making preparation +for the speedy return of the sunshine; but the sun did not show his face +till he had only time to tinge the clouds with golden glory before he +sank behind the forest. + +"Carry me to the window, Dan," said Hamish. "Thank you: that is nice. +You carry me as strongly and firmly as Allister himself. You are as +strong, and nearly as tall, I think," continued he, when he had been +placed in the great chair and had rested a little. At any other time +Dan would have straightened himself up to declare how he was an eighth +of an inch taller than Allister, or he would have attempted some +extraordinary feat--such as lifting the stove or the chest of drawers-- +to prove his right to be called a strong man. But, looking down on his +brother's fragile form and beautiful colourless face, other thoughts +moved him. Love and compassion, for which no words could be found, +filled his heart and looked out from his wistful eyes. It came to him +as it had never come before--what a sorrowful, suffering life his +brother's had been; and now he was dying! Hamish seemed not to need +words in order that he might understand his thoughts. + +"I used to fret about it, Dan; but that is all past. It does not +matter, as I am lying now. I would not change my weakness for your +strength to-day, dear lad." + +A last bright ray of sunlight lighted up the fair, smiling face, and +flecked with golden gleams the curls that lay about it. There came into +Dan's mind thoughts of the time when Hamish was a little lad, strong and +merry as any of them all; and his heart was moved with vague wonder and +regret at the mystery that had changed his happy life to one of +suffering and comparative helplessness. And yet, what did it matter, +now that the end had come? Perhaps all that trouble and pain had helped +to make the brightness of to-day, for there was no shadow in the dying +eyes, no regret for the past, no fear for the future. He let his own +eyes wander from his brother's face away to the clouds and the sinking +sun and the illuminated forest, with a vague notion that, if his +feelings were not suppressed, he should do dishonour to his manliness +soon. Hamish touched his hand, as he said,-- + +"It looks dark to you, Dan, with the shadow of death drawing nearer and +nearer; but it is only a shadow, lad, only a shadow, and I am not +afraid." + +Dan felt that he must break down if he met that smile a moment longer, +and, with a sudden wrench, he turned himself away; but he could not have +spoken a word, if his reputation for strength had depended on it. +Hamish spoke first. + +"Sit down, lad, if you are not needed, and read a while to me, till +Shenac comes back again." + +"All right," said Dan. He could endure it with something to do, he +thought. "What book, Hamish?" + +"There is only one book now, Dan, lad," said Hamish as he lifted the +little, worn Bible from the window-seat. + +Dan could do several things better than he could read, but he took the +book from his brother's hand. Even reading would be better than +silence--more easily borne. + +"Anywhere, I suppose?" said he. + +The book opened naturally at a certain place, where it had often been +opened before, and he read:-- + +"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our +Lord Jesus Christ." + +The sigh of satisfaction with which Hamish laid himself back, as the +words came slowly, said more to Dan than a sermon could have done. He +read on, thinking, as verse by verse passed his lips, "That is for +Hamish," till he came to this:-- + +"For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of +his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life." + +"Was this for Hamish only?" Dan's voice was not quite smooth through +this verse; it quite broke down when he tried the next; and then his +face was hidden, and the sobs that had been gathering all this time +burst forth. + +"Why, Dan, lad! what is it, Dan?" said Hamish; and the thin, transparent +fingers struggled for a moment to withdraw the great, brown, screening +hands from his eyes. Then his arm was laid across his brother's neck. +"They are all for you, Dan, as well as for me," he murmured. "O Dan, do +not sob like that. Look up, dear brother, I have something to say to +you." + +If I were to report the broken words that followed, they might not seem +to have much meaning or weight; but, falling from those dear dying lips, +they came with power to the heart of Dan. And this was but the +beginning. The veil being once lifted from Dan's heart, he did not +shrink again from his brother's gentle and faithful ministrations. +There were few days after that in which the brothers were not left alone +together for a little while. Though the days were not many, in Dan's +life they counted more than all the years that had gone before. + +The harvest was drawing to a close before the last day came. The dawn +was breaking after a long and weary night More than once, during the +slowly-passing hours, Shenac had turned to the door to call her +brothers; but thoughts of the long laborious day restrained her, and now +a little respite had come. Hamish slumbered peacefully. It was not +very long, however, before his eyes opened on his sister's face with a +smile. + +"It is drawing nearer, my Shenac," he murmured. + +Her answering smile was tearful, but very bright. + +"Yes, it is drawing nearer." + +"And you do not grudge me to my rest, dear?" + +"No; even at my worst time I did not do that. For myself, the way +looked weary; but at the very worst time I was glad for you." + +The brightness of her tearful smile never changed till his weary eyes +closed again. The day passed slowly. They thought him dying in the +afternoon, and they all gathered in his room; but he revived, and when +night came he was left alone with Shenac. There were others up in the +house all night, and now and then a face looked in at the open door; but +they slept, or seemed to sleep--Shenac in the great chair, with her head +laid on her brother's pillow and her bright hair mingling with his. On +her cheek, pale with watching and with awe of the presence that +overshadowed them, one thin, white hand was laid. The compressed lips +and dimmed eyes of Hamish never failed to smile as in answer to his +touch she murmured some tender word--not her own, but _His_ whose words +alone can avail when it comes to a time like this. + +As the day dawned they gathered again--first Dan, then Allister and +Shenac Dhu, then Flora and the little lads; for the change which cannot +be mistaken had come to the dying face, and they waited in silence for +the King's messenger. He slumbered peacefully with a smile upon his +lips, but his eyes opened at last and fastened on his sister's face. +She had never moved through the coming in of them all; she did not move +now, but spoke his name. + +"Hamish, bhodach!" + +Did he see her? + +"How bright it is in the west! It will be a fair day for the harvest +to-morrow." + +It must have been a glimpse of the "glory to be revealed" breaking +through the dimness of death; for he did not see the dear face so close +to his, and if he heard her voice, he was past all answering now. Just +once again his lips moved, murmuring a name--the dearest of +all--"Jesus;" and then he "saw him as he is." + + + +CHAPTER NINETEEN. + +And having closed the once beaming eyes and straightened the worn limbs +for the grave, Shenac's work at home was done. Through the days of +waiting that followed, she sat in the great chair with folded hands. +Many came and went, and lingered night and day in the house of death, as +is the custom of this part of the country, now happily passing away; and +through all the coming and going Shenac sat still. Sometimes she roused +herself to answer the friends who came with well-meant sympathy; but +oftener she sat silent, scarcely seeming to hear their words. She was +"_resting_," she said to Dan, who watched her through those days with +wistful and anxious eyes. + +Yes, she was resting from the days and nights of watching, and from the +labours and cares and anxieties of the years that had gone before. All +her weariness seemed to fall upon her at once. Even when death enters +the door, the cares and duties of such a household cannot be altogether +laid aside. There was much to do with so many comers and goers; but +there were helpful hands enough, and she took no part in the necessary +work, but rested. + +She took little heed of the preparations going on about her--different +in detail, but in all the sad essentials the same, in hut and hall, at +home and abroad--the preparations for burying our dead out of our sight. +During the first day, Allister and his wife said, thankfully, to each +other, "How calm she is!" The next day they said it a little anxiously. +Then they watched for the reaction, feeling sure it must come, and +longing that it should be over. + +"It will be now," said Shenac Dhu as they brought in the coffin; and she +waited at her sister's door to hear her cry out, that she might weep +with her. But it was not then; nor afterwards, when the long, long +procession moved away from the house so slowly and solemnly; nor when +they stood around the open grave in the kirkyard. When the first clod +fell on the coffin--oh, heart-breaking sound!--Dan made one blind step +towards Shenac, and would have fallen but for Angus Dhu. Little Flora +cried out wildly, and her sister held her fast. She did not shriek, nor +swoon, nor break into weeping, as did Shenac Dhu; but "her face would +never be whiter," said they who saw it, and many a kindly and anxious +eye followed her as the long line of mourners slowly turned on their +homeward way again. + +After the first day or two, Shenac tried faithfully to fall back into +her old household ways--or, rather, she tried to settle into some +helpful place in her brother's household. The wheel was put to use +again, and, indeed, there was need, for all things had lagged a little +during the summer; and Shenac did her day's work, and more, as she used +to do. She strove to be interested in the discussions of ways and means +which Allister's wife was so fond of holding, but she did not always +strive successfully. It was a weariness to her; everything was a +weariness at times. It was very wrong, she said, and very strange, for +she really did wish to be useful and happy in her brother's household. +She thought little of going away now; she had not the heart for it. The +thought of beginning some new, untried work made her weary, and the +thought of going away among strangers made her afraid. + +When it was suggested that she and little Flora should pay a +long-promised visit to their uncle, at whose house Hamish had passed so +many weeks, and that they should go soon, that they might have the +advantage of the fine autumn weather, she shrank from the proposal in +dismay. + +"Not yet, Allister," she pleaded; "I shall like it by-and-by, but not +yet." + +So nothing of the kind was urged again. They made a mistake, however. +A change of some kind was greatly needed by her at this time. Her +brother's long illness and death had been a greater strain on her health +and spirits than any one dreamed. She was not ill, but she was in that +state when if she had been left to herself, or had had nothing to do, +she might have become ill, or have grown to fancy herself so, which is a +worse matter often, and worse to cure. As it was, with her good +constitution and naturally cheerful spirit, she would have recovered +herself in time, even if something had not happened to rouse and +interest her. + +But something did happen. Shenac went one fair October afternoon over +the fields to the beech woods to gather nuts with Flora and the young +lads, and before they returned a visitor had arrived. They fell in with +Dan on their way home, and as they came in sight of the house, chatting +together eagerly, there was something like the old light in Shenac's eye +and the old colour in her cheek. If she had known whose eyes were +watching her from the parlour window, she would hardly have lingered in +the garden while the children spread their nuts on the old house-floor +to dry. She did not know till she went into the house--into the room. +She did not know till he was holding her hands in his, that Mr Stewart +had come. + +"Shenac, good, dear child, is it well with you?" + +She had heard the words before. All the scene came back--the +remembrance of the summer days, her dying brother and his friend--all +that had happened since then. She strove to answer him--to say it was +well, that she was glad to see him, and why had he not come before? But +she could not for her tears. She struggled hard; but, long restrained, +they came in a flood now. When she felt that to struggle was vain, she +would have fled; but she was held fast, and the tears were suffered to +have way for a while. When she could find voice, she said,-- + +"I am not grieving too much; you must not think that. Ask Allister. I +did not mean to cry, but when I saw you it all came back." + +Again her face was hidden, for her tears would not be stayed; but only +one hand was given to the work. Mr Stewart held the other firmly, +while he spoke just such words as she needed to hear of her brother and +herself--of all they had been to each other, of all that his memory +would be to her in the life that might lie before her. Then he spoke of +the endless life which was before them, which they should pass together +when this life--short at the very longest--should be over. She +listened, and became quiet; and by-and-by, in answer to his questions, +she found herself telling him of her brother's last days and words, and +then, with a little burst of joyful tears, of Dan, and all that she +hoped those days had brought to him. + +Never since the old times, when she used "to empty her heart out" to +Hamish, had she found such comfort in being listened to. When she came +to the tea-table, after brushing away her tears, she seemed just as +usual, Shenac Dhu thought; and yet not just the same, she found, when +she looked again. She gave a little nod at her husband, who smiled back +at her, and then she said softly to Mr Stewart,-- + +"You have done her good already." + +Of course Mr Stewart, being a minister, whose office it is to do good +to people, was very glad to have done good to Shenac. Perhaps he +thought it best to let _well_ alone, for he did not speak to her again +during tea-time, nor while she was gathering up the tea-things--"just as +she used to do in the old house long ago," he said to himself. She +washed them, too, there before them all; for it was Shenac Dhu's new +china--Christie More's beautiful wedding present--that had been spread +in honour of the occasion, and it was not to be thought of that they +should be carried into the kitchen to be washed like common dishes. She +was quiet, as usual, all the evening and at the time of worship, when +Angus Dhu and his wife and Evan and some other neighbours, having heard +of the minister's arrival, came in. She was just as usual, they all +said, only she did not sing. If she had raised her voice in her +brother's favourite psalm,-- + + "I to the hills will lift mine eyes," + +she must have cried again; and she was afraid of the tears which it +seemed impossible to stop when once they found a way. + +Mr Stewart fully intended for that night to "let well alone." Shenac +had welcomed him warmly as the dearest friend of her dead brother, and +he would be content for the present with that. He had something to say +to her, and a question or two to ask; but he must wait a while, he +thought. She must not be disturbed yet. + +But when the neighbours were gone, and he found himself alone with her +for a moment, he felt sorely tempted to change his mind. As he watched +her sitting there with folded hands, so quiet and grave and sweet, so +unconscious of his presence, as it seemed to him, a fear came over him-- +a fear as to the answer his question might receive. It was not at all a +pleasant state of mind. He endured it only while he walked up and down +the room two or three times; then pausing beside her, he said softly,-- + +"Is this my Shenac?" + +She looked up with only wonder in her eyes, he saw, with a little shock +of pain; but he went on,-- + +"Hamish gave his sister to me, to keep and cherish always. Did he never +tell you?" + +"I do not understand you, Mr Stewart," said Shenac; but the sudden +drooping of the eye and the rush of colour over her face seemed to say +something else. + +"To be my wife," he said, sitting down beside her and drawing her gently +towards him. She did not resist, but she said hastily,-- + +"Oh, no; I am not fit for that." + +"But if I am content, and can make you content?" + +"But that is not enough. I am not fit. No; it is _not_ humility. I +know myself, and I am not fit." + +It is just possible that Mr Stewart wished that he had for that night +"let well alone." + +"But I must have it out with her, now that I have begun," he said to +himself as he rose and went to the door, at which a footstep had paused. +Whoever it was, no one came in; and, shutting the door, he came and sat +down again. + +In the meantime, Shenac had been calling up a vision of the new +minister's wife, the one who had succeeded old Mr Farquharson, and, in +view of the prettily-dressed, gentle-mannered, accomplished little lady +that presented herself to her mind, she had repeated to herself, more +emphatically,-- + +"No, I am _not_ fit." + +So when Mr Stewart came back she was sitting with closely-folded hands, +looking straight before her, very grave indeed. They were both silent +for a moment; then Mr Stewart said,-- + +"Now, Shenac, tell me why." + +Shenac started. "You must know quite well." + +"But indeed I do not. Tell me, Shenac." + +It was not easy to do so. In the unspeakable embarrassment that came +over her, she actually thought of flight. + +"I am not educated," she murmured. "I have never been anywhere but at +home. I can only do common work. I am not fit." + +"Hamish thought you fit," said Mr Stewart softly. + +"Ah, yes; Hamish, bhodach!" + +Her voice fell with such a loving cadence. All the pain and +embarrassment passed out of her face, giving place to a soft and tender +light, as she turned towards him. + +"I was perfect in his eyes; but--you know better, Mr Stewart." + +"The eyes of the dying are very clear to see things as they are," said +Mr Stewart. "And as we sat at the end of the house that day, I think +Hamish was more glad for me than for you. He was willing to give you to +me, even for your sake; but he knew what a treasure he was giving to his +friend, if I could win you for my own." + +Her tears were falling softly. She did not try to speak. + +"Will you tell me in what respect you think you are not fit?" + +She did not know how to answer. She was deficient in so many ways--in +every way, indeed, it seemed to her. She did not know where to begin; +but she must speak, and quickly too, that she might get away before she +quite broke down. Putting great force upon herself, she turned to him, +and said,-- + +"I can do so few things; I know so little. I could keep your house, +and--and care for you in that way; but I have seen so little. I am only +an ignorant country girl--" + +"Yes; I thought that myself once," said Mr Stewart. + +"You must have thought it many times," said Shenac with a pang. It was +not pleasant to hear it from his lips, let it be ever so true. But it +took the quiver from her voice, and gave her courage to go on, "And all +you care for is so different from anything I have ever seen or known, I +should be quite left out of your real life. You do not need me for +that, I know; but I don't think I could bear it--to be so near you and +so little to you." + +She rose to go. She was trembling very much, and could hardly utter the +words. + +"You are very kind, and I thank you; but--you know I am not fit. An +ignorant country girl--you have said so yourself." + +"Shall I tell you when I thought so, Shenac? Do you mind the night that +I brought little Flora home, crying with the cold? It was the first +time I saw your face. Do you mind how you comforted Flora, and put the +little lads to shame for having left her? And then you thanked me, and +asked me to sit down. And do you mind how you made pancakes for supper, +and never let one of them burn, though you were listening all the time +to Hamish and me? I remember everything that happened that night, +Shenac--how you put away the things, and made a new band for the +mother's wheel, and took up the lost loops in little Flora's stocking. +Then you helped the little lads with their tables, and kept Dan in +order, listening all the time to your brother and me; and, best of all, +you bade me be sure and come again. Have you forgotten, Shenac?" + +"It was for the sake of Hamish," said Shenac, dropping her head; but she +raised it again quickly. "That does not make any difference." + +"Listen. That night, as I went over the fields to Angus Dhu's, I said +to myself that if ever I grew strong and well again, if ever I should +live to have a kirk and a manse of my own--was I too bold, Shenac?--I +said to myself you should help me to do my work in them as I ought." + +Shenac shook her head. + +"It was not a wise thought. You little know how unfit I was then, how +unfit I am now." + +"Say that you do not care for me, Shenac," said Mr Stewart gravely. + +"No, I cannot say that; it would not be true. I mean, that has nothing +to do with my being fit." + +Mr Stewart thought it had a great deal to do with it, but he did not +say so. + +"You said you would be left out of my real life. What do you mean, +Shenac? Do you know what my life's work is to be? It is, with God's +help, to be of use to souls. Don't you care for that, Shenac? Do you +think a year or two of life in the world--common life--could be to you +what these months by your brother's death-bed have been, as a +preparation for real life-work--yours and mine? Do you think that any +school could do for you what all these years of forgetting yourself and +caring for others have done--all your loving patience with your +afflicted mother, all your care of your sister and the little lads, all +your forbearance with Dan, all your late joy in him? If you cared for +me, Shenac, you would not say you are not fit." + +It was very pleasant to listen to all this. There was some truth in it, +too, Shenac could not but acknowledge. He was very much in earnest, at +any rate, and sincere in every word, except perhaps the last He wanted +to hear her say again that she eared for him; but she did not fall into +the trap, whether she saw it or not. + +"I know I care for your work," she said, "and you are right--in one way. +I think all our cares and troubles have done me good, have made me see +things differently. But I could not help you much, I'm afraid." + +"Don't say that, Shenac; you could give me what I need most--sympathy; +you could help my weakness with your strength and courage of spirit. +Think what you were to Hamish. You would be tenfold more to me. Oh, I +need you so much, Shenac!" + +"Hamish was different. You would have a right to expect more than +Hamish." + +But she grew brave again, and, looking into his face, said,-- + +"I do sympathise in your work, Mr Stewart, and I would like it to be +mine in a humble way; but there are so many things that I cannot speak +about. Think of your own sisters. How different I must be from them! +Allister and Shenac saw your sister Jessie when they were in M---, and +they said she was so accomplished--such a perfect little lady--and yet +so good and sweet and gentle. No, Mr Stewart, I could never bear to +have people say your wife was not worthy of you, even though I might +know it to be true." + +"I was thinking how our bonnie little Jessie might sit at your feet to +learn everything--almost everything--that it is worth a woman's while to +know." + +"You are laughing at me now," said she, troubled. + +"No, I am not; and, Shenac, you must not go. I have a question to ask. +I should have begun with it. Will you answer me simply and truly, as +Hamish would have wished his sister to answer his friend?" + +"I will try," said she, looking up with a peculiar expression that +always came at the name of Hamish. He bent down and whispered it. + +"I have always thought you wise and good, more than any one, and--" + +There was another pause. + +"It is a pleasant thing to hear that you have always thought me wise and +good; but you have not answered my question, Shenac." + +"Yes, I do care for you, Mr Stewart. It would make me happy to share +your work; but I am not fit for it--at least, not yet." + +In his joy and simplicity he thought all the rest would be easy; and, to +tell the truth, so did Allister and his wife, who ought to have known +our Shenac better. When Shenac Dhu kissed her, and whispered something +about Christmas, and how they could ever bear to lose her so soon, +Shenac spoke. She was going away before Christmas, and they could spare +her very well; but she was not going with Mr Stewart for two years at +the very least Allister had told her there was something laid up for her +against the time she should need it, and it would be far better that she +should use it to furnish her mind than to furnish her house; and she was +going to school. + +"To school!" repeated Mrs Allister in dismay. "Does Mr Stewart know?" + +"No; you must tell him, Shenac--you and Allister. I am not fit to be +his wife. You will not have people saying--saying things. You must see +it, Shenac. I know so little; and it makes me quite wretched to think +of going among strangers, I am so shy and awkward. I am not fit to be a +minister's wife," she added with a little laugh that was half a sob. +Shenac Dhu laughed too, and clapped her hands. + +"A minister's wife, no less! Our Shenac!" And then she added gravely, +"I think you are right, Shenac. I know you are good enough and dear +enough to be Mr Stewart's wife, though he were the prince of that name, +if there be such a person. But there are little things that folk can +only learn by seeing them in others, and I think you are quite right; +but you will not get Mr Stewart to think so." + +"If it is right he will come to think so; and you must be on my side, +Shenac--you and Allister, too." + +Shenac Dhu promised, but in her heart she thought that her sister would +not be suffered to have her own way in this matter. She was mistaken, +however. Shenac was firm without the use of many words. She cared for +him, but she was not fit to be his wife yet. This was the burden of her +argument, gone over and over in all possible ways; and the first part +was so sweet to Mr Stewart that he was fain to take patience and let +her have her own way in the rest. + +In Shenac's country, happily, it is not considered a strange thing that +a young girl should wish to pursue her education even after she is +twenty, so she had no discomfort to encounter on the score of being out +of her 'teens. She lived first with her cousin, Christie More, who no +longer occupied rooms behind her husband's shop, but a handsome house at +a reasonable distance towards the west end of the town. Afterwards she +lived in the school-building, because it gave her more time and a better +chance for study. She spent all the money that Allister had put aside +for her; but she was moderately successful in her studies, and +considered it well spent. + +And when the time for the furnishing of the western manse came, there +was money forthcoming for that too; for Angus Dhu had put aside the +interest of the sum sent to him by Allister for her use from the very +first, meaning it always to furnish her house. It is possible that it +was another house he had been thinking of then; but he gave it to her +now in a way that greatly increased its value in her eyes, kissing her +and blessing her before them all. + +All these years Shenac's work has been constant and varied; her duties +have been of the humblest and of the highest, from the cutting and +contriving, the making and mending of little garments, to the guiding of +wandering feet and the comforting of sorrowful souls. In the manse +there have been the usual Saturday anxieties and Monday despondencies, +needing cheerful sympathy and sometimes patient forbearance. In the +parish there have been times of trouble and times of rejoicing; times +when the heavens have seemed brass above, and the earth beneath, iron; +and times when the church has been "like a well-watered garden," having +its trees "filled with the fruits of righteousness." And in the manse +and in the parish Shenac has never, in her husband's estimation, failed +to fill well her allotted place. + +The firm health and cheerful temper which helped her through the days +before Allister came home, have helped her to bear well the burdens +which other years have brought to her. The firm will, the earnest +purpose, the patience, the energy, the forgetfulness of self, which made +her a stronghold of hope to her mother and the rest in the old times, +have made her a tower of strength in her home and among the people. And +each passing year has deepened her experience and brightened her hope, +has given her clearer views of God's truth and a clearer sense of God's +love; and thus she has grown yearly more fit to be a helper in the great +work beside which all other work seems trifling--the work in which God +has seen fit to make his people co-workers with himself--the work of +gathering in souls, to the everlasting glory of his name. + +And so, when her work on earth is over, there shall a glad "Well done!" +await her in heaven. + +THE END. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Shenac's Work at Home, by Margaret Murray Robertson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHENAC'S WORK AT HOME *** + +***** This file should be named 21227.txt or 21227.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/2/2/21227/ + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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