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Updated: June 16, 2025
Auntie Flora was so fearful that his spiritual condition was languishing that she spoke to Mr. Sinclair and he promised to see Gavin and talk to him. Auntie Elspie said nothing but she watched him, and finally her keen mother-heart divined his malady.
I'm sure Donald'll like it better than all the other flowers i' the town." "Indeed, then, he won't," said Katie, sharply; on which Elspie turned upon her with a flashing eye, and said, "An' which 'll be knowin' best, do ye think? What is it ye mean?" "Nothing," said Katie, meekly; "only he said, that day I'd the bonnet on, it was no more than sticks, an' not like the true heather at all."
Elspie, indeed, was all that could be desired, and Fergus was in all respects a sterling man; but the head of the family was, as we have seen, open to improvement in many respects, and Duncan junior was of that heart-breaking character which is known as ne'er-do-weel. Possibly, if differently treated by his father, he might have been a better man.
"Ye'll be wiser lassies, young leddies, gin ye're no ower ready to say it," said Elspie, coolly. "It was no ane o' your white days when she came to Brocklebank Fells. Ay, weel, weel! The Lord's ower a'." As we went down the road, I said to Sophy, "What did old Elspie mean, do you suppose?" "I am afraid I can guess what she meant, Cary."
An' before noon it was settled't the poorhouse in Alice County, nearest us, should take in the inmates temporary. We was eatin' dinner when Timothy an' Silas come in to tell Elspie. I wished Eppleby had come to tell her. Eppleby does everything like he was company, an' not like he owned it. "Eb was hevin' dinner with us too.
It was not thought safe for one person to work at it alone for fear of accident with the fire. But it fell out on this October afternoon, a Saturday, that Elspie, feeling sure of Donald's being on his way to spend the Sunday with her, had walked down to the wharf to meet him. Seeing no signs of the boat, she went back to the flax camp, lighted the fire, and began to spread the flax on the slats.
Of course, during these first days of his weakness his sister Elspie nursed him. She would, if permitted, have done so night and day, but in this matter she had to contend with one who was more than a match for her. This was Old Peg, the faithful domestic.
A great lump rose in her throat. She braced herself and said softly, "Gavin, Laddie!" Gavin leaped to his feet. "Auntie Elspie!" he cried in amazement, his eyes dazzled by the light, "why, you are dressed! You're not sick?" he cried anxiously, taking the lamp from her hand. "No, no," she said; "I'm jist all right. Put the lamp down, hinny, I want to talk with you."
From the profoundest depths of his person it seemed to burst, and how his nose sustained the strain without splitting has remained one of the mysteries of the Nor'-West unto this day. It acted like an electric shock on Elspie, who sat bolt upright at once with a scared look that was quite in keeping with her tousled hair. "Oh! daddy, what a fright you gave me!" Elspie said, remonstratively.
She seemed quite to forget herself, and the fact that she might perish on the bleak plains along with her father did not seem even to occur to her. "It wass madness to come here, whatever," said the poor old man, as he cowered over the small fire, which his son Fergus had kindled before leaving, and which Elspie had kept up with infinite labour and difficulty ever since.
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