She paused a moment, feeling it was time the laird should say something—which immediately he did.
“Say awa’, Grizzie,” he answered; “I’m hearin’ ye. There’s nane has a better richt to say her say i’ this hoose; what ither hae ye to say ’t intil!”
“I hae no richt,” retorted Grizzie, almost angrily, “but what ye alloo me, laird; and I wadna wuss the Lord to gie me ony mair. But whan I see ye in tribble—eh, mony’s the time I haud my tongue till my hert’s that grit it’s jist swallin’ in blobs an’ blawin’ like the parritch whan its dune makin’, afore tak it frae the fire! for I hae naething to say, an’ naither coonsel nor help intil me. But last nicht, whan I leukit na for ’t, there cam a thoucht intil my heid, an’ seein’ it was a stranger, I bad it walcome. It micht hae come til a far wysser heid nor mine, but seein’ it did come to mine, it wad luik as gien the Lord micht hae pitten’ t’ there—to the comfort an’ consolation o’ ane, ’at, gien she be a gowk, is muckle the same as the Lord made her wi’ ’s ain bliss-it han’. Sae, quo’ I, I s’ jist submit the thing to the laird. He’ll sune discern whether it be frae the Lord or mysel’!”
“Say on, Grizzie,” returned the laird, when again she paused. “It sud surprise nane to get a message frae the Lord by the mou’ o’ ane o’ his handmaidens.”
“Weel, it’s this, laird.—I hae often been i’ the gran’ drawin’ room, when ye wad be lattin’ the yoong laird, or somebody or anither ye wantit to be special til, see the bonny things ye hae sic a fouth o’ i’ the caibnets again the wa’s; an’ I hae aye h’ard ye say o’ ane o’ them—yon bonny little horsie, ye ken, ’at they say the auld captain, ’at’s no laid yet, gied to yer gran’father—I hae aye h’ard ye say o’ that, ’at hoo it was solid siller—‘said to be,’ ye wad aye tack to the tail o’ ’t.”
“True! true!” said the laird, a hopeful gleam beginning to break upon his darkness.
“Well, ye see, laird,” Grizzie went on, “I’m no sic a born idiot as think ye wad set the possession o’ sic a playock again’ the yoong laird’s edication; sae ye maun hae some rizzon for no meltin’ ’t doon—seein’ siller maun aye be worth siller,—an’ gowd, gien there be eneuch o’ ’t. Sae, like the minister, I come to the conclusion—But I hae yer leave, laird, to speyk?”
“Gang on, gang on, Grizzie,” said the laird, almost eagerly.
“Weel, laird—I winna say feart, for I never saw yer lairdship” —she had got into the way of saying lordship, and now not unfrequently said lairdship!—“feart afore bull or bully, but I cud weel believe ye wadna willin’ly anger ane ’at the Lord lats gang up and doon upo’ the earth, whan he wad be far better intil ’t, ristin’ in ’s grave till the resurrection—only he was never ane o’ the sancts! But anent that, michtna ye jist ca’ to min’, laird, ’at a gi’en gift’s yer ain, to du wi’ what ye like; an’ I wad na heed man, no to say a cratur ’at belangs richtly to nae warl’ ava’, ’at wad play the bairn, an’ want back what he had gi’en. For him, he’s a mere deid man ’at winna lie still. Mony a bairn canna sleep, ’cause he’s behavet himsel’ ill the day afore! But gi’en, by coortesy like, he hed a word i’ the case, he cudna objec’—that is, gien he hae onything o’ the gentleman left intil him, which nae doobt may weel be doobtfu’—for wasna he a byous expense wi’ his drink an’ the gran’ ootlandish dishes he bude to hae! Aften hae I h’ard auld Grannie say as muckle, an’ she kens mair aboot that portion o’ oor history nor ony ither, for, ye see, I cam raither late intil the faimily mysel’. Sae, as I say, it wad be but fair the auld captain sud contreebit something to the needcessities o’ the hoose, war it his to withhaud, which I mainteen it is not.”
“Weel rizzont, Grizzie!” cried the laird. “An’ I thank ye mair for yer thoucht nor yer rizzons; the tane I was in want o’, the tither I was na. The thing sall be luikit intil, an’ that the first thing the morn’s mornin’! The bit playock cam never i’ my heid! I maun be growin’ auld, Grizzie, no to hae thoucht o’ a thing sae plain! But it’s the w’y wi’ a’ the best things! They’re sae guid whan ye get a grip o’ them, ’at ye canna un’erstan’ hoo ye never thoucht o’ them afore.”