Part 5 (2/2)
”Weel, and ye and the wife are showing yer good sense,” said the doctor, heartily, when he heard what Jamie had to say. ”We'll pull the wean through. He's of gude stock on both sides--that's why I want to adopt him. I'll bring a nurse round wi' me tomorrow, come afternoon, and I'll hae the papers ready for ye to sign, that give me the richt to adopt him as my ain son. And when ye sign ye shall hae yer hundred pounds.”
”Ye--ye can keep the siller, doctor,” said Jamie, suppressing a wish to say something violent. ”'Tis no for the money we're letting ye hae the wean--'tis that ye may save his life and keep him in the world to hae his chance that I canna gie him, G.o.d help me!”
”A bargain's a bargain, Jamie, man,” said the doctor, more gently than was his wont. ”Ye shall e'en hae the hundred pounds, for you'll be needin' it for the puir wife. Puir la.s.sie--dinna think I'm not sorry for you and her, as well.”
Jamie shook his head and went off. He could no trust himself to speak again. And he went back to Annie wi' tears in his een, and the heart within him heavy as it were lead. Still, when he reached hame, and saw Annie looking at him wi' such grief in her moist een, he could no bear to tell her of the hundred pounds. He could no bear to let her think it was selling the bairn they were. And, in truth, whether he was to tak' the siller or not, it was no that had moved him.
It was a sair, dour nicht for Jamie and the wife. They lay awake, the twa of them. They listened to the breathing of the wean; whiles and again he'd rouse and greet a wee, and every sound he made tore at their heart strings. They were to say gude-bye to him the morrow, never to see him again; Annie was to hold him in her mither's arms for the last time. Oh, it was the sair nicht for those twa, yell ken withoot ma tellin' ye!
Come three o' the clock next afternoon and there was the sound o'
wheels ootside the wee hoose. Jamie started and looked at Annie, and the tears sprang to their een as they turned to the wean. In came the doctor, and wi' him a nurse, all starched and clean.
”Weel, Jamie, an' hoo are the patients the day? None so braw, Annie, I'm fearin'. 'Tis a hard thing, my la.s.sie, but the best in the end.
We'll hae ye on yer feet again in no time the noo, and ye can gie yer man a bonnier bairn next time! It's glad I am ye'll let me tak' the wean and care for him.”
Annie could not answer. She was clasping the bairn close to her, and the tears were running down her twa cheeks. She kissed him again and again. And the doctor, staring, grew uncomfortable. He beckoned to the nurse, and she stepped toward the bed to take the wean from its mither. Annie saw her, and held the bairn to Jamie.
”Puir wean--oh, oor puir wean!” she sighed. ”Jamie, my man--kiss him-- kiss him for the last time----”
Jamie sobbed and caught the bairn in his great arms. He held it as tenderly as ever its mither could ha' done. And then, suddenly, still holding the wean, he turned on the doctor.
”We canna do it, Doctor!” he cried. ”I cried out against G.o.d yesterday. But--there is a G.o.d! I believe in Him, and I will put my trust in Him. If it is His will that oor wean shall dee--dee he must.
But if he dees it shall be in his mither's arms.”
His eyes were blazing, and the doctor, a little frightened, as if he thought Jamie had gone mad, gave ground. But Jamie went on in a gentler voice.
”I ken weel ye meant it a' for the best, and to be gude to us and the wean, doctor,” he said, earnestly. ”But we canna part with our bairn.
Live or dee he must stay wi' his mither!”
He knelt down. He saw Annie's eyes, swimming with new tears, meeting his in a happiness such as he had never seen before. She held out her hungry arms, and Jamie put the bairn within them.
”I'm sorry, doctor,” he said, simply.
But the doctor said nothing. Without ane word he turned, and went oot the door, wi' the nurse following him. And Jamie dropped to his knees beside his wife and bairn and prayed to the G.o.d in whom he had resolved to put his trust.
Ne'er tell me G.o.d does not hear or heed such prayers! Ne'er tell me that He betrays those who put their trust in Him, according to His word.
Frae that sair day of grief and fear mither and wean grew better. Next day a wee laddie brocht a great hamper to Jamie's door. Jamie thocht there was some mistake.
”Who sent ye, laddie?” he asked.
”I dinna ken, and what I do ken I maun not tell,” the boy answered.
”But there's no mistake. 'Tis for ye, Jamie Lowden.”
And sae it was. There were all the things that Annie needed and Jamie had nae the siller to buy for her in that hamper. Beef tea, and fruit, and jellies--rare gude things! Jamie, his een full o' tears, had aye his suspicions of the doctor. But when he asked him, the doctor was said angry.
”Hamper? What hamper?” he asked gruffly. That was when he was making a professional call. ”Ye're a sentimental fule, Jamie Lowden, and I'd hae no hand in helpin' ye! But if so be there was some beef extract in the hamper, 'tis so I'd hae ye mak' it--as I'm tellin' ye, mind, not as it says on the jar!”
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