Young Mr Petrie.
That night Mr Dawson came to invite them to pass a few days at Saughleas. He “wearied” there alone in the mornings and the long evenings, and there was no good reason why he should be alone, when they could come to visit him without leaving any one but Nannie to miss them. Nannie putting in her word, said she would not object to being left since the change would be good for them both.
“And as Mrs Petrie asked you for a few days, Marion, my dear, if you like you can go there instead.”
“Oh! Miss Jean! If you please?”
Marion’s face fell so decidedly that Mr Dawson laughed and insisted that Marion must come also, and Miss Jean had nothing to urge against it since both were pleased.
“Mrs Petrie is very kind, but she canna really care very much; and I see some of them every day,” said Marion, fearing to appear ungrateful.
“Miss Jean will be all the better o’ her company when ye’re in the toon,” said Nannie privately to Mr Dawson. “And as to thae Petrie’s—we ha’e eneuch o’ some o’ them at a’ conscience;” which was Marion’s opinion also.
The days passed happily at Saughleas. Marion enjoyed the garden and the woods and fields, and every growing thing in them, as only they who have been long shut up in a dull house in a dull city street can do, and her delight in all that Saughleas had to offer was pleasant to see. Mr Dawson went to the town every day, but some days he did not stay there long, and Marion and he grew as friendly among the flowers and fields, as they had been among the wonderful sights of London during the first days of their acquaintance. The shyness which old associations had brought back since she came to Portie, passed quite away, and the frankness which had been her chief charm to the old man returned, and they took pleasure in each other’s company.
“I’m going over to the brae to see a fine new plough that Mr Maclean has got. Have ye a mind for a walk, my lassie?” said Mr Dawson as they met one afternoon in the kitchen garden behind the house.
Marion had been longing for a walk and was delighted to go. There was a cold wind blowing from the sea, and she went to the house for a shawl, but came back in a minute with a clouded face.