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Sam'l and Sanders had both known all along that Bell would take the first of the two who asked her. Even those who thought her proud admitted that she was modest. Bitterly the weaver repented having waited so long. Now it was too late. In ten minutes Sanders would be at T'nowhead; in an hour all would be over. Sam'l rose to his feet in a daze.
Bell could not, for she was but the servant, and T'nowhead knew that the kick his wife had given him meant that he was not to do so, either. Sanders whistled to show that he was not uncomfortable. "Ay, then, I'll be stappin' ower the brae," he said at last. He did not go, however.
Thus he had not, so far, made great headway. His method of making up to Bell had been to drop in at T'nowhead on Saturday nights and talk with the farmer about the rinderpest. The farm kitchen was Bell's testimonial. Its chairs, tables, and stools were scoured by her to the whiteness of Rob Angus' saw-mill boards, and the muslin blind on the window was starched like a child's pinafore.
"Sam'l," she said, with a twinkle in her eye, "ye can tell Lisbeth Fargus I'll likely be drappin' in on her aboot Mununday or Teisday." Lisbeth was sister to Eppie, and wife of Tammas McQuhatty, better known as T'nowhead, which was the name of his farm. She was thus Bell's mistress. Sam'l leaned against the hen-house as if all his desire to depart had gone.
She had nine children besides the baby, and, being but a woman, it was the pride of her life to march them into the T'nowhead pew, so well watched that they dared not misbehave, and so tightly packed that they could not fall. The congregation looked at that pew, the mothers enviously, when they sang the lines: "Jerusalem like a city is Compactly built together."
A new subject being thus ingeniously introduced, Tammas again put his foot on the pail. "I tak no creedit," he said, modestly, on the evening, I remember, of Willie Pyatt's funeral, "in bein' able to speak wi' a sort o' faceelity on topics 'at I've made my ain." "Ay," said T'nowhead, "but it's no the faceelity o' speakin' 'at taks me.
He was not very skilful, however, being generally caught, and when they said they knew he was a robber he gave them their things back and went away. If they had given him time there is no doubt that he would have gone off with his plunder. One night he went to T'nowhead, and Bell, who slept in the kitchen, was wakened by the noise.
Though Sam'l did not set up for a wit, however, like Davit, it was notorious that he could say a cutting thing once in a way. "Did ye ever see Bell reddin' up?" asked Pete, recovering from his overthrow. He was a man who bore no malice. "It's a sicht," said Sam'l, solemnly. "Hoo will that be?" asked Jamie Deuchars. "It's weel worth yer while," said Pete, "to ging atower to the T'nowhead an' see.
Am sure if ye would tak mair after my father, it would be a blessin'. Look hoo cool he is." "Whaur is he, Leeby?" "Oh, I dinna ken. The henmost time I saw him he was layin' doon the law aboot something to T'nowhead." "It's an awfu' wy that he has o' ga'en oot withoot a word. I wouldna wonder 'at he's no bein' in time to meet Jamie, an' that would be a pretty business."
Bell could not, for she was but the servant, and T'nowhead knew that the kick his wife had given him meant that he was not to do so either. Sanders whistled to show that he was not uncomfortable. "Ay, then, I'll be stappin' ower the brae," he said at last. He did not go, however.
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