Part 17 (1/2)
”She has profaned the sacred name of Friend And worn it to vileness”
”Ah, wretched and too solitary he Who loves not his own company!”
”Fortune came smiling to the maid, and woo'd her”
Life would be but a mean abode for men and women if they could not open the windows of their souls and look beyond it. During the weeks which immediately followed Janet Caird's a.s.sociation with Maggie she felt this truth, though she did not define the feeling to herself. She only realized the comfort of withdrawing from the fretful presence of her aunt to the contemplative, pa.s.sionless serenity of the Word of G.o.d. But even this was an offence. ”What are you doing at a', Maggie?” was the certain inquiry if she went to the quiet of her own room for an hour.
”I'm reading the Book a wee, Aunt Janet.”
The comments upon this reply varied, according to Janet's temper.
Sometimes it was, ”Well, the gude ken, you need to read it.” Again it would be, ”_Havers!_ Hoo can the like o' you understand it, and no man body to gie you the sense?” And if the volume happened to be one from Allan's small library, her railing at ”no-vels and the sin o' them” was unstinted.
But the real cause of difference between the women was far beyond Maggie's knowledge or power to alter. It had sprung up the very hour that David asked her to come to Pittenloch and be a companion to his sister. No sooner had he left her than she began to consider in what light the proposition could bring her personally the most respect and sympathy, and a neighbor coming in at the moment, she found in her own small boast the key-note of her future treatment of her niece.
”I hae been called for, Mistress Futtrit, a' the road to Pittenloch,” she said, with a sigh; ”my nephew is settled for the ministry--an' nae less--and I maun just gae and tak' the guiding o' his sister and his hoose.”
”You're auld to be fashed wi' a bairn noo, Mistress Caird.”
”Na, na, it isna a bairn; Maggie Promoter is a braw, handsome la.s.s, wi'
mair lovers than she has fingers and toes.”
”But that's waur than a bairn. You'll be worn oot wi' the care o' it. I ken by the heartaches my ain Baubie gied me. Early and late she keepit me in het water.”
”I hear tell that oor Maggie is just extraordinar' handsome and extraordinar' self-willed. I ken I'm going to sorrow, but her fayther was my brither, and I'll hae to do my duty, or be a meeserable woman.”
”It's a credit to you, Mistress Caird, to hae feelings like them, and you'll be supported dootless.”
Jean Futtrit's pretty Baubie had not always behaved well; and Jean was suspicious of all other young girls. She had thought the worst of Maggie at once, and she made Janet Caird feel herself to be a very meritorious domestic martyr in accepting the charge of her. This idea satisfied Janet's craving for praise and sympathy; she fully endorsed it; she began to take credit for her prudence and propriety before she even entered upon her new life.
And circ.u.mstances in Pittenloch favored Janet; in a few days she had received so much condolence, and had committed herself so completely regarding her niece, that nothing could have induced her to reconsider her conduct. Every trifle also in Maggie's att.i.tude testified against herself.
She resented the constant conclaves of tea-drinking, gossiping women in her house, and she was too honest-hearted to hide her disapproval from them. The result was, that backed by Janet Caird, they came still more frequently, and were more and more offensive. If she determined to make the best of the matter, and remained with them, she was subjected to advices, and innuendoes, and rude jokes, almost intolerable; and if she went away she was accused of bad temper, of a greedy, grudging disposition, and of contempt for her own people and cla.s.s.
If Maggie had been wise enough to attend faithfully the weekly meeting in Elder Mackelvine's cottage, she would have silenced many of her enemies.
But this one evening Maggie looked forward to, on different grounds; Janet Caird never missed the meeting, and her absence gave Maggie two sweet hours alone in her home. She locked her door, visited Allan's room, changed her book, and afterward sat still, and let the time slip away in thoughts sacred to her own heart.
As the end of the year approached Dr. Balmuto was expected. He made a visit to Pittenloch every three months. Then he consoled the sick, baptized weakly infants, reproved those who had been negligent in attending kirk, and catechised and examined the young people previous to their admission to The Tables. Maggie had not been very faithful about the ordinances. The weather had been bad, the landward road was dangerous when snow had fallen, and she did not like going in the boats among so many who gave her only looks of grave disapproval. So she had made many excuses, and in this matter Janet Caird had let her take her own way without opposition. Absence from kirk was a proof of a falling away from grace, which in the eyes of these people was beyond explanation; provided the delinquent was not unmistakably sick.
The minister had noticed Maggie's frequent lapses from duty. He spoke to Elder Mackelvine about it; and as the elder was in a manner responsible for the flock to his superior shepherd, he felt obliged to repeat much of the gossip he had heard. He had no ill will to the girl, far from it; yet unknowingly he did her many wrongs, even though he distinctly said, ”he _knew_ no ill of Maggie Promoter, and was but repeating what a lot of idle women said.”
But Dr. Balmuto was troubled and alarmed. He thought not only of Maggie, but also of David. He had sanctioned his ambition for the ministry, and had helped him toward the office; and he could not bear to think of a whisper against a name likely to stand in the list of G.o.d's servants. He was angry at Maggie's imprudences, even if they were no worse than imprudences. He paid a special visit to the Promoter cottage, and putting aside Mistress Caird with a polite wave of the hand which greatly impressed her, he demanded to see Maggie alone.
He told her frankly all that he had heard, and the girl was astounded.
There was just truth enough with every lie to carry the lie through. Many of them she found it almost hopeless to try to explain; and when the doctor asked her, ”if there had been any words of love between Mr.
Campbell and herself?” she could not deny it. She remained speechless, and the minister thought very badly of the woman dumb and blus.h.i.+ng before him.
”Mind what I tell you, Maggie Promoter,” he said sternly, ”I know the young man Campbell. He is none of your kind. He cannot make you his wife.
If he could, you would be wretched, for he would soon scorn you. Can the eagle mate with the kittywake? Sin and sorrow come of such love making. It will ruin both David and yourself. Mind, I have warned you. If you were my own daughter I would say no less to you.”