Part 63 (1/2)

”Have pity on his mother, man.”

”We've done the best for her we could,” he replied. ”We prigged wi'

Tammas no to gang to the manse till we was sure the minister was living. 'For if he has been drowned,' we said, 'his mother need never ken what we were thinking o' doing.' Ay, and we're sorry for the young leddy, too.”

”What young lady is this you all talk of?” I asked.

”She's his intended. Ay, you needna start. She has come a' the road frae Glasgow to challenge him about the gypsy. The pitiful thing is that Mrs. Dishart lauched awa her fears, and now they're baith waiting for his return, as happy as ignorance can make them.”

”There is no such lady,” I said.

”But there is,” he answered doggedly, ”for she came in a machine late last nicht, and I was ane o' a dozen that baith heard and saw it through my window. It stopped at the manse near half an hour. What's mair, the lady hersel' was at Sam'l Farquharson's in the Tenements the day for twa hours.”

I listened in bewilderment and fear.

”Sam'l's bairn's down wi' scarlet fever and like to die, and him being a widow-man he has gone useless. You mauna blame the wives in the Tenements for hauding back. They're fleid to smit their ain litlins; and as it happens, Sam'l's friends is a' aff to the glen. Weel, he ran greeting to the manse for Mr. Dishart, and the lady heard him crying to Jean through the door, and what does she do but gang straucht to the Tenements wi' Sam'l. Her goodness has naturally put the folk on her side against the minister.”

”This does not prove her his intended,” I broke in.

”She was heard saying to Sam'l,” answered the kirk officer, ”that the minister being awa, it was her duty to take his place. Yes, and though she little kent it, he was already married.”

”Hendry,” I said, rising, ”I must see this lady at once. Is she still at Farquharson's house?”

”She may be back again by this time. Tammas set off for Sam'l's as soon as he heard she was there, but he just missed her. I left him there an hour syne. He was waiting for her, determined to tell her all.”

I set off for the Tenements at once, declining Hendry's company. The wind had fallen, so that the bell no longer rang, but the rain was falling doggedly. The streets were still deserted. I pushed open the precentor's door in the school wynd, but there was no one in the house. Tibbie Birse saw me, and shouted from her door:

”Hae you heard o' Mr. Dishart? He'll never daur show face in Thrums again.”

Without giving her a word I hastened to the Tenements.

”The leddy's no here,” Sam'l Farquharson told me, ”and Tammas is back at the manse again, trying to force his way in.”

From Sam'l, too, I turned, with no more than a groan; but he cried after me, ”Perdition on the man that has played that leddy false.”

Had Margaret been at her window she must have seen me, so recklessly did I hurry up the minister's road, with nothing in me but a pa.s.sion to take Whamond by the throat. He was not in the garden. The kitchen door was open. Jean was standing at it with her ap.r.o.n to her eyes.

”Tammas Whamond?” I demanded, and my face completed the question.

”You're ower late,” she wailed. ”He's wi' her. Oh, dominie, whaur's the minister?”

”You base woman!” I cried, ”why did you unbar the door?”

[Ill.u.s.tration: ”IT WAS BABBIE, THOUGH NO LONGER IN A GYPSY'S DRESS.”]

”It was the mistress,” she answered. ”She heard him shaking it, and I had to tell her wha it was. Dominie, it's a' my wite! He tried to get in last nicht, and roared threats through the door, and after he had gone awa she speired wha I had been speaking to. I had to tell her, but I said he had come to let her ken that the minister was taking shelter frae the rain in a farmhouse. Ay, I said he was to bide there till the flood gaed down, and that's how she has been easy a' day. I acted for the best, but I'm sair punished now; for when she heard Tammas at the door twa or three minutes syne, she ordered me to let him in, so that she could thank him for bringing the news last nicht, despite the rain. They're in the parlor. Oh, dominie, gang in and stop his mouth.”

This was hard. I dared not go to the parlor. Margaret might have died at sight of me. I turned my face from Jean.