But Shenac had tried Mary Matheson’s wheel more than once; and besides, as Mr Rugg had often said, and now triumphantly repeated, she had a “faculty.” There really did seem nothing that she could not learn to do more easily than other people. Now the long thread was drawn out even and fine as any that ever passed through the mother’s hands on the precious little wheel. The mother examined and approved, Shenac Dhu exclaimed, and the little lads laughed and clapped their hands. As for Shenac Bhan, she could hardly believe in her own good fortune. She did not seem to hear the talk or the laugh, but, with a face intent and grave, walked up and down, drawing out the long, even threads, and then letting them roll up smoothly on the spindle.
“Take it moderate, Miss Shenac,” said the peddler, “take it moderate. It don’t pay to overdo even a good thing.”
But Shenac was busy calculating how many days’ work there might be in the wool, and how long it would take her to finish it.
“The rainy days will not be lost now,” she said to herself triumphantly. “Of course I must stick to the hay; but mornings and evenings and rainy days I can spin. No fear for the lads’ clothes now.”
“Hamish,” said Shenac Dhu, “I shall never see her without fancying she has a wheel on her head.”
Hamish laughed. His pleasure in the pleasure of his sister was intense.
“I don’t know what we can ever say to Christie for her kindness,” he said.
“We’ll write a letter to her, Hamish, you and I together,” said his sister eagerly. “I can’t think how it all happened. But I am so glad and thankful; and I must tell Christie.”
The next day was fair. When Shenac went out with little Hugh to the milking in the pasture, she thought she heard the pleasant sound of the whetting of scythes nearer than the fields of Angus Dhu. She could see nothing, however, because of the mist that lay close over the low lands. But when she went out after breakfast to spread the grass cut by Dan during the rainy days, she found work going on that made Dan’s efforts seem like play.
“Is it a bee?” said Shenac to herself.