“The Fife lads break a sixpence in twa wi’ their troth lass; and I hae my half sixpence. There can be no ring but a wedding ring for a lassie like me.”
Then Mary laid down her work, and as she passed Maggie she touched her gently, and smiled in her face. She was rapidly coming to a decision; a few minutes in her own room enabled her to reach it. “The girl is a born lady; I gave her every opportunity, but neither to the text of ‘Campbell,’ nor ‘lover,’ did she betray herself or Allan. And really, when I think of it, I had almost a special direction about her. I did not intend to go to Mrs. Lauder’s that morning. I should not have gone, if Madame Bartholemew had been at home. I should not have gone if Miss Fleming had been able to do my work. Maggie has evidently been put in my charge. Not to go any higher than Uncle John and Allan, I think when they demand her of me, they will say—‘Where is thy sister?’ not ‘Where is thy servant maid, or thy sewing maid.’ But I must be sure of myself. If I accept this obligation, I must accept it fully with all its contingencies and results. Can I be generous enough? Patient enough? Just enough? Loving enough?” And no wonder men honor good women! Who could have helped honoring Mary Campbell who saw her stand with honest purpose examining her own heart, and then lowly kneeling, asking God’s blessing and help for the resolve so consecrated.
It was no light favor to be quickly given and quickly removed. Most good things are gradual; and Mary’s kindness fell as the dew, a little in the morning, and a little in the evening. Here, a formality was dropped; there a tangible token of equality given. First, the evening dresses of white mull and pale merinos; then the meal at her table, and the seat in her carriage. And when this point had been reached, it had been so naturally and unobtrusively reached, that even the servants only remembered the first days of Maggie’s residence at Drumloch, as a time when “Miss Promoter dootless had a sorrow o’ her ain, and keepit much to hersel’.”
With a more conventional girl, Mary might have had much difficulty in reaching this state of affairs; but Maggie took her kindness with the simple pleasure and gratitude of a child; and she certainly had not the faintest conception of Mary Campbell’s relation to Allan.
Allan had distinctly spoken of his home as being in Bute; and of his cousin, as living in the same house with him from her childhood. Mary, in her own castle in Ayrshire, was certainly far enough away from all Allan’s statements to destroy every suspicion of her identify. And the name of “Campbell” told her nothing at all. As Mary said, “The Campbells were a big clan.” They abounded throughout the west of Scotland. Around Drumloch, every third man was a Campbell. In Glasgow the name was prominent on the sign boards of every street. In a Fife fishing village there are rarely more than four or five surnames. A surname had not much importance in Maggie’s eyes. She had certainly noticed that “Campbell” frequently met “Promoter;” but certain names seem to have affinities for certain lives; at least certain letters do; and Maggie, quoting a superstition of her class, settled the matter to her own satisfaction, by reflecting “what comes to me wi’ a ‘C,’ aye comes wi’ good to me.”
CHAPTER XI. — TO THE HEBRIDES.
“And yet when all is thought and said.
The heart still overrules the head.”
“From the lone shieling of the misty islands.
Mountains divide us, and the waste of seas:
But we in dreams behold the Hebrides.”
One morning toward the end of July, Mary was reading the “Glasgow Herald.” “Maggie,” she said, “one of the Promoters has evidently left Fife, for I see the name among the list of students—David Promoter—he has done wondrously. The man is a miracle, he has taken every prize in his classes, I think.”