But when Allison found her voice again, she said “no” to that.
“I havena the heart to go anywhere. My auld wives are my best friends now. I must just have patience and wait.”
“Allison,” said Robert gravely, “would you not like to come with me to America?”
Allison looked at him in astonishment.
“With you! To America!”
“Yes, with me. Why not? They have fine colleges. I could learn to be a doctor as well there as here, at least I could learn well enough. And then there is your brother, and—John Beaton. The change is what you need. You wouldna, maybe, like to go by yourself, and I could take care of you as well as another.”
This hold and wise proposal had the effect of staying Allison’s tears, which was something.
“And what would your father and mother say to that, think ye?” said Allison with a smile.
“I dinna—just ken. But I ken one thing. They would listen to reason. They ay do that. And a little sooner or later, what difference would it make? For it is there I am going some time, and that soon.”
“And so am I, I hope—but not just yet. I couldna go to a strange land, to bide among strange folk, until—I am fitter for it. If my brother had a house of his own, I might go.”