""Dinna set yer heart ower muckle on that bairn," he cried oot, sharp like. "I was aince like her, an" I used to hing aboot my mother, too, in that very roady. Ay, I thocht I was fond o" her, an" she thocht it too. Tak" a care, wuman, "at that bairn doesna grow up to murder ye."
"He gae a lauch when he saw me tak haud o" the bairn, an" syne a" at aince he gaed awa quick. But he wasna far doon the brae when he turned an" came back.
""Ye"ll, mebbe, tell me," he said, richt low, "if ye hae the furniture "at used to be my mother"s?"
""Na," I said, "it was roupit, an" I kenna whaur the things gaed, for me an" my man comes frae Tilliedrum."
""Ye wouldna hae heard," he said, "wha got the muckle airm-chair "at used to sit i" the kitchen i" the window "at looks ower the brae?"
""I couldna be sure," I said, "but there was an airm-chair at gaed to Tibbie Birse. If it was the ane ye mean, it a" gaed to bits, an" I think they burned it. It was gey dune."
""Ay," he said, "it was gey dune."
""There was the chairs ben i" the room," he said, after a while.
"I said I thocht Sanders Elshioner had got them at a bargain because twa o" them was mended wi" glue, an" gey silly.
""Ay, that"s them," he said, "they were richt neat mended. It was my mother "at glued them. I mind o" her makkin" the glue, an" warnin" me an" my father no to sit on them. There was the clock too, an" the stool "at my mother got oot an" into her bed wi", an" the basket "at Leeby carried when she gaed the errands. The straw was aff the handle, an" my father mended it wi" strings."
""I dinna ken," I said, "whaur nane o" thae gaed; but did yer mother hae a staff?"
""A little staff," he said; "it was near black wi" age. She couldna gang frae the bed to her chair withoot it. It was broadened oot at the foot wi" her leanin" on"t sae muckle."
""I"ve heard tell," I said, ""at the dominie up i" Glen Quharity took awa the staff."
"He didna speir for nae other thing. He had the gate in his hand, but I dinna think he kent "at he was swingin"t back an" forrit. At last he let it go.
""That"s a"," he said, "I maun awa. Good-nicht, an" thank ye kindly."
"I watched "im till he gaed oot o" sicht. He gaed doon the brae."
We learnt afterwards from the gravedigger that some one spent great part of that night in the graveyard, and we believe it to have been Jamie. He walked up the glen to the school-house next forenoon, and I went out to meet him when I saw him coming down the path.
"Ay," he said, "it"s me come back."
I wanted to take him into the house and speak with him of his mother, but he would not cross the threshold.
"I came oot," he said, "to see if ye would gie me her staff--no "at I deserve "t."
I brought out the staff and handed it to him, thinking that he and I would soon meet again. As he took it I saw that his eyes were sunk back into his head. Two great tears hung on his eyelids, and his mouth closed in agony. He stared at me till the tears fell upon his cheeks, and then he went away.
That evening he was seen by many persons crossing the square. He went up the brae to his old home, and asked leave to go through the house for the last time. First he climbed up into the attic, and stood looking in, his feet still on the stair. Then he came down and stood at the door of the room, but he went into the kitchen.
"I"ll ask one last favour o" ye," he said to the woman: "I would like ye to leave me here alane for juist a little while."
"I gaed oot," the woman said, "meanin" to leave "im to "imsel", but my bairn wouldna come, an" he said, "Never mind her," so I left her wi"
"im, an" closed the door. He was in a lang time, but I never kent what he did, for the bairn juist aye greets when I speir at her.
"I watched "im frae the corner window gang doon the brae till he came to the corner. I thocht he turned round there an" stood lookin" at the hoose. He would see me better than I saw him for my lamp was i" the window, whaur I"ve heard tell his mother keepit her cruizey. When my man came in I speired at "im if he"d seen onybody standin" at the corner o" the brae, an" he said he thocht he"d seen somebody wi" a little staff in his hand. Davit gaed doon to see if he was aye there after supper-time, but he was gone."
Jamie was never again seen in Thrums.