“Mistress Lauder says you wad like me to go wi’ you, Miss Campbell. I’ll be glad to do it. I am just wearying for the country, and I’ll do my best to pleasure you.”
“Oh, thank you. It is to sew table damask. I will give you. #5 a month.”
“That is gude pay. I’ll be gratefu’ for it.”
“Be ready by nine o’clock to-morrow morning. I will call here for you.”
Drumloch was a very ancient place. The older portion was battlemented, and had been frequently held against powerful enemies; but this part of the building was merely the nucleus of many more modern additions. It stood in one of the loveliest locations in Ayrshire, and was in every respect a home of great splendor and beauty. Maggie had never dreamt of such a place. The lofty halls and rooms, the wide stairways, the picturesque air of antiquity, the fine park and gardens, the wealth of fruits and flowers quite bewildered her. Mary took her first real liking to the girl as she wandered with her through the pleasant places of Drumloch. Maggie said so frankly what she liked and what she did not like; and yet she had much graceful ingenuousness, and extremely delicate perceptions. Often she showed the blank amazement of a bird that has just left the nest, again she would utter some keen, deep saying, that made Mary turn to her with curious wonder. Individualities developed by the Bible have these strange contradictions, because to great guilelessness they unite an intimate knowledge of their own hearts.
Mary had been much troubled as to where, and how, she was to place this girl. As David had boasted, she belonged to a race “who serve not.” “She may come to be mistress of Drumloch. It is not improbable. I will not make a menial of her. That would be a shame and a wrong to Allan.” She had formed this decision as they rode together in the train, and acting upon it, she said, “Maggie, what is your name—all your name?”
“My name is Margaret Promoter. I hae been aye called Maggie.”
“I will call you Maggie, then; but my servants will call you Miss Promoter. You understand?”
“If it is your will, Miss Campbell.”
“It is my wish, Maggie. You are to be with me entirely; and they must respect my companion. Can you read aloud, Maggie?”