“Dinna be ower hard upo’ Grizzie an’ me, Cosmo,” Aggie went on. “It wasna for oorsel’s we wad hae dune sic a thing; an’ maybe there was nane but them we did it for ’at we wad hae been able to du ’t for. But I hae no richt to say we . Blame, gien there be ony, I hae my share o’; but praise, gien there be ony, she has ’t a’; for, that the warst michtna come to the warst, at the last she tuik the meal-pock,” said Aggie, and burst into tears as she said it, “an’ gaed oot wi’ ’t.”
“Good God!” cried Cosmo, and for some moments was dumb. “Lassie!” he said at length, in a voice that was not like his own, “didna ye ken i’ yer ain sowl we wad raither hae dee’d?”
“There ’tis! That’s jist what for Grizzie wadna hae ye tellt! But dinna think she gaed to ony place whaur she was kent,” sobbed Agnes, “or appeart to ony to be ither than a puir auld body ’at gaed aboot for hersel’. Dinna think aither ’at ever she tellt a lee, or said a word to gar fowk pity her. She had aye afore her the possibility o’ bein’ ca’d til accoont some day. But I’m thinkin’ gien ye had applyt to her an’ no to me, ye wad hae h’ard anither mak o’ a defence frae mine! Ae thing ye may be sure o’—there’s no a body a hair the wiser.”
“What difference does that make?” cried Cosmo. “The fact remains.”
“Hoot, Cosmo!” said Agnes, with a revival of old authority, “ye’re takin’ the thing in a fashion no worthy o’ a philosopher—no to say a Christian. Ye tak it as gien there was shame intil ’t! An’ gien there wasna shame, I daur ye to priv there can be ony disgrace! Gien ye come to that wi’ ’t, hoo was the Lord o’ a’ himself supportit whan he gaed aboot cleanin’ oot the warl’? Wasna it the women ’at gaed wi’ ’im ’at providit a’ thing?”
“True; but that was very different! They knew him, all of them, and loved him—knew that he was doing what no money could pay for; that he was working himself to death for them and for their people—that he was earning the whole world. Or at least they had a far off notion that he was doing as never man did, for they knew he spake as never man spake. Besides there was no begging there. He never asked them for anything.”—Here Aggie shook her head in unbelief, but Cosmo went on.—“And those women, some of them anyhow, were rich, and proud to do what they did for the best and grandest of men. But what have we done for the world that we should dare look to it to help us?”
“For that maitter, Cosmo, are na we a’ brithers an’ sisters? A’ body ’s brithers an’ sisters wi’ a’ body. It’s but a kin’ o’ a some mean pride ’at wadna be obleeged to yer ain fowk, efter ye hae dune yer best. Cosmo! ilka han’fu’ o’ meal gi’en i’ this or ony hoose by them ’at wadna in like need accep’ the same, is an affront frae brither to brither. Them ’at wadna tak, I say, has no richt to gie.”
“But nobody knew the truth of where their handful of meal was going. They thought they were giving it to a poor old woman, when they were in fact giving it to men with a great house over their heads. It’s a disgrace, an’ hard to beir, Aggie!”
“’Deed the thing’s hard upon ’s a’! but whaur the disgrace is, I will not condescen’ to see. Men in a muckle hoose! Twa o’ them auld, an’ a’ three i’ their beds no fit to muv! Div ye think there’s ane o’ them ’at gied to Grizzie, ’at wad hae gi’en less—though what less nor the han’fu’ o’ meal, which was a’ she ever got, it wad be hard to imaigine—had they kent it was for the life o’ auld Glenwarlock—a name respeckit, an’ mair nor respeckit, whaurever it’s h’ard?—or for the life o’ the yoong laird, vroucht to deith wi’ labourers’ wark, an’ syne ’maist smoored i’ storm?—or for auld Jeames Gracie, ’at’s led a God-fearin’ life till he’s ’maist ower auld to live ony langer? I say naething aboot Grizzie an’ me, wha cud aye tak care o’ oorsel’s gien we hadna three dowie men to luik efter. We did oor best, but whan a’ oor ain siller was awa’ efter the lave, we cudna win awa’ oorsel’s to win mair. Gien you three cud hae dune for yersel’s, we wad hae been sen’in’ ye hame something.”
“You tell me,” said Cosmo, as if in a painful dream, through which flashed lovely lights, “that you and Grizzie spent all your own money upon us, and then Grizzie went out and begged for us?”