"In the lowlands, I grant, Ian; but the daughter of the poorest tacksman of the Macruadhs has a manner and a modesty I have seen in no Sasunnach girl yet. Those girls are bold!"
"Self-possessed, perhaps!" said Ian.
Upon the awkwardness he took for shyness, had followed a reaction.
It was with the young ladies a part of good breeding, whatever mistake they made, not to look otherwise than contented with themselves: having for a moment failed in this principle, they were eager to make up for it.
"Girls are different from what they used to be, I fancy, mother!"
added Ian thoughtfully.
"The world changes very fast!" said the mother sadly. She was thinking, like Rebecca, if her sons took a fancy to these who were not daughters of the land, what good would her life do her.
"Ah, mother dear," said Ian, "I have never"--and as he spoke the cloud deepened on his forehead--"seen more than one woman whose ways and manners reminded me of you!"
"And what was she?" the mother asked, in pleased alarm.
But she almost repented the question when she saw how low the cloud descended on his countenance.
"A princess, mother. She is dead," he answered, and turning walked so gently from the room that it was impossible for his mother to detain him.
CHAPTER IX.
ME. SERCOMBE.
The next morning, soon after sunrise, the laird began to cut his barley. Ian would gladly have helped, but Alister had a notion that such labour was not fit for him.
"I had a comical interview this morning," said the chief, entering the kitchen at dinner-time. "I was out before my people, and was standing by the burn-side near the foot-bridge, when I heard somebody shouting, and looked up. There was a big English fellow in gray on the top of the ridge, with his gun on his shoulder, hollo-ing. I knew he was English by his hollo-ing. It was plain it was to me, but not choosing to be at his beck and call, I took no heed. "Hullo, you there! wake up!" he cried. "What should I wake up for?" I returned. "To carry my bag. You don"t seem to have anything to do! I"ll give you five shillings.""
"You see to what you expose yourself by your unconventionalities, Alister!" said his brother, with mock gravity.
"It was not the fellow we carried home the other night, Ian; it was one twice his size. It would take all I have to carry HIM as far!"
"The other must have pointed you out to him!"
"It was much too dark for him to know me again!"
"You forget the hall-lamp!" said Ian.
"Ah, yes, to be sure! I had forgotten!" answered Alister. "To tell the truth, I thought, when I took his shilling, he would never know me from Nebuchadnezzar: that is the one thing I am ashamed of in the affair--I did in the dark what perhaps I should not have done in the daylight!--I don"t mean I would not have carried him and his bag too! I refer only to the shilling! Now, of course, I will hold my face to it; but I thought it better to be short with a fellow like that."
"Well?"
""You"ll want prepayment, no doubt!" he went on, putting his hand in his pocket. Those Sasunnach fellows think every highlandman keen as a hawk after their dirty money!"
"They have but too good reason in some parts!" said the mother. "It is not so bad here yet, but there is a great difference in that respect. The old breed is fast disappearing. What with the difficulty of living by the hardest work, and the occasional chance of earning a shilling easily, many have turned both idle and greedy."
"That"s for you and your shilling, Alister!" said Ian.
"I confess," returned Alister, "if I had foreseen what an idea of the gentlemen of the country I might give, I should have hesitated.
But I haven"t begun to be ashamed yet!"
"Ashamed, Alister!" cried Ian. "What does it matter what a fellow like that thinks of you?"
"And mistress Conal has her shilling!" said the mother.
"If the thing was right," pursued Ian, "no harm can come of it; if it was not right, no end of harm may come. Are you sure it was good for mistress Conal to have that shilling, Alister? What if it be drawing away her heart from him who is watching his old child in her turf-hut? What if the devil be grinning at her from, that shilling?"
"Ian! if G.o.d had not meant her to have the shilling, he would not have let Alister earn it."
"Certainly G.o.d can take care of her from a shilling!" said Ian, with one of his strangely sweet smiles. "I was only trying Alister, mother."
"I confess I did not like the thought of it at first," resumed Mrs.
Macruadh; "but it was mere pride; for when I thought of your father, I knew he would have been pleased with Alister."
"Then, mother, I am glad; and I don"t care what Ian, or any Sasunnach under the sun, may think of me."
"But you haven"t told us," said Ian, "how the thing ended."
"I said to the fellow," resumed Alister, "that I had my shearing to do, and hadn"t the time to go with him. "Is this your season for sheep-shearing?" said he."We call cutting the corn shearing," I answered, "because in these parts we use the reaping hook." "That is a great waste of labour!" he returned. I did not tell him that some of our land would smash his machines like toys. "How?" I asked. "It costs so much more," he said. "But it feeds so many more!" I replied. "Oh yes, of course, if you don"t want the farmer to make a living!" "I manage to make a living," I said. "Then you are the farmer?" "So it would appear." "I beg your pardon; I thought--"
"You thought I was an idle fellow, glad of an easy job to keep the life in me!" "You were deuced glad of a job the other night, they tell me!" "So I was. I wanted a shilling for a poor woman, and hadn"t one to give her without going home a mile and a half for it!"
By this time he had come down, and I had gone a few steps to meet him; I did not want to seem unfriendly. "Upon my word, it was very good of you! The old lady ought to be grateful!" he said. "So ought we all," I answered, "--I to your friend for the shilling, and he to me for taking his bag. He did me one good turn for my poor woman, and I did him another for his poor leg!" "So you"re quits!" said he.
"Not at all," I answered; "on the contrary, we are under mutual obligation." "I don"t see the difference!--Hillo, there"s a hare!"
And up went his gun to his shoulder. "None of that!" I cried, and knocked up the barrel. "What do you mean?" he roared, looking furious. "Get out of the way, or I"ll shoot you." "Murder as well as poaching!" I said. "Poaching!" he shouted. "That rabbit is mine," I answered; "I will not have it killed." "Cool!--on Mr. Palmer"s land!" said he. "The land is mine, and I am my own gamekeeper!" I rejoined. "You look like it!" he said. "You go after your birds!--not in this direction though," I answered, and turned and left him."
"You were rough with him!" said Ian.
"I did lose my temper rather."
"It was a mistake on his part."
"I expected to hear him fire," Alister continued, "for there was the rabbit he took for a hare lurching slowly away! I"m glad he didn"t: I always feel bad after a row!--Can a conscience ever get too fastidious, Ian?"
"The only way to find that out is always to obey it."
"So long as it agrees with the Bible, Ian!" interposed the mother.
"The Bible is a big book, mother, and the things in it are of many sorts," returned Ian. "The Lord did not go with every thing in it."
"Ian! Ian! I am shocked to hear you!"
"It is the truth, mother."
"What WOULD your father say!"
""He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.""