“That is my ain whiskey, David; bought wi’ my ain siller, and the gude ken I need a wee drappie to keep my vera heart frae breaking wi’ the sorrow I hae had.”
“Say, wi’ the sorrow you hae made. Pack your trunk, Aunt Janet. I’ll take you to Dron Point in the morning.”
He would talk no more to her. He let her rave and explain and scold, but sat silent on his hearth, and would go and see none of his old friends. But it did console him somewhat that they came crowding in to see him. That reaction which sooner or later takes place in favor of the injured had taken place in Maggie’s favor since the minister’s last visit. Mistress Caird felt that she was leaving Pittenloch something like a social criminal. No one came to bid her farewell. David and a boy he hired took her silently to her old home. She had sacrificed every good feeling and sentiment for popularity, and everyone spoke ill of her.
Getting near to Dron Point, she said to David, “You are a miserable set-up bit o’ a man; but you’ll pay me the #4 10s. you are owing me, or I’ll send the constable and the sherra a’ the way to Glasca’ for it.”
“I owe you nothing, woman.”
“Woman, indeed! Maggie, the hizzy!—agreed to gie me five shillings weekly if I wad say the gude word for her she ne’er deserved, and I havna been paid for eighteen weeks. That mak’s it #4 10s. Just hand o’er the siller and be done wi’ it.”
“It is a theft, an extortion;” but he took a #5 note from his pocket-book and gave her it. “That is a gratuity,” he said, “a gratuity to help you until you find employment. I do not owe you a penny.”
“There’s nae gratuity in honest earned money; and if you wad gie me #50 it wad be too little to pay me for the loss o’ health and time and gude name I hae made through you and yours. Set you up for a minister, indeed! Clean your ain door-stane before you speak o’ other folks. I’m glad to be rid o’ the sight and the hearing o’ you.”
That was the parting shot, and David could have very heartily returned it. But he heeded his Bible rule, and to her railing made no answer. Janet would rather have been sworn at. He left her bargaining with a man to take her blue kist to the village public, but he did not return to Pittenloch. He had given Elder Mackelvine the key of the cottage, and the elder had promised to find a proper woman to care for it. So he sent the boy back with the boat, and found the quickest way from Dron Point to Glasgow.
In his last interview with Allan Campbell, Allan had told him, if any difficulty arose about his money matters, or if he needed more money before he returned, to go to his father; and in view of such an emergency, had given David the address of Campbell & Co. He went there as soon as he arrived in Glasgow. It was in the middle of the afternoon and John Campbell had just gone to his house in Blytheswood Square. The young man who answered his inquiry was pleasant spoken, and trustworthy, and David said to him—“Where is Mr. Allan Campbell?”