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"'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?
A man who called himself a gentleman would be made to account for his lack of manners. One Saturday afternoon, as Walter Trenfield and Ruth were driving the cows down to the creek to drink, and Will and I were idling about on the seaward hill, we saw Patrick Kenna ride up to the house, dismount and knock.
There was he and that sour Whigamore they ca'd Burley: if twa men could hae won a field, we wadna hae gotten our skins paid that day." "You mention Burley: do you know if he yet lives?" "I kenna muckle about him. Folk say he was abroad, and our sufferers wad hold no communion wi' him, because o' his having murdered the archbishop.
He played upo' the bagpipes, an' the flute, an' the bugle, an' I kenna what a'; but a'thegither they cam' na within sicht o' his father upo' the auld fiddle. Lat's hae a luik at her. He took the instrument in his hands reverently, turned it over and over, and said,
'I kenna what ever she or I wud hae dune wantin ye! 'And ye think mebbe she'll be some the better, some way or ither, for 't? 'Ay, I div think that, Steenie. But to tell the trowth, I'm no sure she'll think verra aft aboot what ye did for her! 'Ow, na! What for sud she? There's no need for that! It was for hersel, no for her think-aboot-it, I tried.
As for we boys, we simply worshipped both Trenfield and May as heroes who had sailed in the far South Seas and harpooned and killed the mighty sperm whale, and had fought with the wild and naked savages of the Pacific Isles. Ruth Kenna was the daughter of a small farmer in the district, who had been emancipated by the good Governor.
If we lack that boat, we have but three shillings left in this wide world; and where to go, and how to do, and what other place there is for us except the chains of a gibbet I give you my naked word, I kenna! Shall we go wanting, lassie? Are ye to lie in your warm bed and think upon us, when the wind gowls in the chimney and the rain tirls on the roof?
"Use yer freedom, laird; I'm yer heumble servan'. It wadna be a watch for the yoong laird? I kenna " He stopped, and cast an anxious eye towards the window. "Na, na," interrupted the laird, sorry to have raised even so much of a vain hope in the mind of the man, "I'm as farfrae a watch as ye are frae the bank.
I, being the youngest boy of the family, and over-fond so my brothers said of hanging on to mammy's apron-strings, as well as being anxious to see the fish, followed her out on to the back verandah, where black-browed, dark-faced Patrick Kenna awaited her. ''Tis a fine dark night coming on, ma'am, he said in a low voice. 'The wind is north-east and 'twill hould well till daylight.
The lee lang day he was among 's fowk workin' his michty wark. Whan the nicht cam', in which no man could wark, he gaed hame till 's Father, as 't war. Eh me! but it's weel to ha'e a man like the schuilmaister to put trowth intill ye. I kenna what comes o' them 'at ha'e drucken maisters, or sic as cares for naething but coontin' an Laitin, an' the likes o' that!"
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