“The crown isna branded on any barrel unless the fish in it are fine, fresh, and unbroken. But as soon as the barrels get the crown, they can be shipped to foreign ports, mostly to Stettin.”
“Why Stettin?”
“I don’t know. Ask your feyther. You are just 65 making a put-aff wi’ your questions. Answer me the one question I asked yoursel’—What can ye do to help your feyther? Answer me that.”
“Father will not use nets until the next herring season—a whole year away—in the winter, he always does line fishing. With your help, Christine can weave new nets before they are needed.”
“I see weel that you dinna intend to pay your debt to Christine, nor yet to help your feyther.”
“Father has not asked me for help. Everyone knows that father is well fore-handed.”
“O lad, the dear auld man barely saved the boat and the lives she carried! He has been roughly handled by winds and waves, and may hae to keep his bed awhile, and your brither Eneas is that hurt and bruised, he will ne’er go fishing again, while your brither Norman has a broken arm, an’ a wife that has gane into hystericals about the lost nets. You’d think it was her man she was screaming for. And Fae and Tamsen waited too lang, and went o’er the boat wi’ their nets, an’ there’s ithers that hae broken limbs, or joints out o’ place, or trouble o’ some sort.”
“I’m very sorry, Mother. If I could do any good to the general ill, I would do it, but if I ruined all my future life I do not see that I could help anyone. I must be just, before I am generous.”
“To be sure. I hope you’ll try to be just, for I am vera certain you’ll ne’er be generous; and if you 66 are just, you’ll pay your sister back her ninety pounds.”
“I will have a conversation with Christine, at once. Where is she?”