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Updated: June 14, 2025
Among the cups on the long table before the sitters lay an open parcel of light drapery the gown-piece, as it was called which was to be raffled for. Wildeve was standing with his back to the fireplace smoking a cigar; and the promoter of the raffle, a packman from a distant town, was expatiating upon the value of the fabric as material for a summer dress.
But I told him I was upo' the travel three parts o' the Sundays, an' then I'm so used to bein' on my legs, I can't sit so long on end, 'an' lors, sir, says I, 'a packman can do wi' a small 'lowance o' church; it tastes strong, says I; 'there's no call to lay it on thick. Eh, Miss, how good the little un is wi' you!
A flicker of a smile crossed his face. "I'll lee like a Scotch packman, and the Father o' lees could do nae mair. You need have no fear for your siller, sir. I've aye repaid when I borrowed, though you may have to wait a bittock." And the strange fellow strolled off. At dinner no Duchess appeared till long after the appointed hour, nor was there any sign of Oliphant.
Martha! cried Bess; 'come away quickly. Here's Andrew the packman in the lane, with such shawls, Martha! Blue and red and yellow and green! Only five shillings a-piece; and thee canst pay him a shilling a week. Come along, and be sharp with thee. 'I've got no money to spend, said Martha sullenly. 'Stephen ought to let grandfather go into the House, and then we shouldn't be so pinched.
It is true that the same ribbon could have been obtained at home from Malcolm M'Whiston or a travelling packman, but Margaret was determined to have it from Edinburgh; and she was particularly emphatic in her injunctions to Robert to see that the folk in the shop stuck a label on the parcel, "with their name printed on, and a picture of the shop and a'."
Dandy Jim, the packman, was a young fellow who wanted more than evil weather and a dreich, black night to depress him. A fine, upstanding lad he was, with a glib English tongue that readily sold his wares, and which, along with a handsome, merry face, helped him with ease into the good graces of those whom he familiarly knew as "the lasses."
Ivo, however, was well satisfied, and packed up his goods with a radiant face. When the two itinerant tradesmen had shouldered their packs, and had gone forth, Lady Foljambe hastily summoned her husband's squire. She was not sufficiently high in dignity to have a squire of her own. "Prithee, keep watch of yon little jeweller packman," said she, uneasily.
"Friend, thee is shaky on thy legs," said Ringan, in a mild voice, "It were well for thee to be in bed." "Bed," cried the roysterer; "no bed for me this night! Where is that damnable Scots packman?" I rose very quietly, and lit another lamp. Then I shut the window, and closed the shutters. "Here I am," I said, "very much at your service, gentlemen."
The end soon came, for, raising his stout ash pole high up in the air, De la Zouch brought it down with, tremendous force, and easily breaking through the pedlar's guard, it alighted heavily upon his head. With a groan the unlucky man staggered back and fell upon the turf. The blow had struck home, and the Derby packman was no more.
"A good haul," at last one man remarked; "a young chap in fine condition." "A heavy load for the little mare," said he who held the reins; "fifteen stone if he's a pound. Not an easy one to tackle afore he died for want o' breath." Packman Jim lurched against the speaker ere the words were well out of his mouth.
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