“I hae a brother—he minds me little.”
“Promoter, I never heard the name before.”
“It is a Fife name. The Promoters dinna wander far. If my fayther hadna been drowned, I should hae stayed wi’ my ain folk.”
“But you are glad to have seen more of the world. You would not like to go back to Fife, now?”
“If my eye hadna seen, my heart wouldna hae wanted. I was happy.”
“Promoter is an uncommon name. I never knew a Promoter before; but the Campbells are a big clan. I dare say you have known a great many Campbells?”
“The man whom fayther sold his fish to was a Campbell. And the woman I lodged wi’ in Glasgow had a daughter married to a Campbell. And Mistress Lauder often sent me to Campbell’s big store for silk and trimmings. And whiles, there was a minister preached in oor kirk, called Campbell—and there is yoursel’, miss, the best o’ them all to Maggie Promoter.”
“Thank you, Maggie.” Not in the faintest way had Maggie betrayed her knowledge of Allan, and Mary respected her for the reticence very much. “Now for our work. I will sew, and you shall read aloud. I want you to learn how to talk as I do, and reading aloud is an excellent exercise.”
“I’ll ne’er speak such high English as you, and I like my braid Scotch weel.”
“But your voice is so delightful when you say the words as you ought to. You can read ‘high English,’ why not talk it?”