“I love you better than I ever did, mother, but you wouldn’t think much of me as a wife were I to say I did wrong in marrying.”
“Aye, there it is; the shuffling creature wi his sleek manners that cam between you an me.”
“Oh, mother, leave that alone. I am sorry to have vexed you today. I never meant to trouble you, until you saw fit to send for me or I thought you needed my help.”
“An what has brocht ye, then?”
“I’ve come for Ruth.”
The old woman sank back in her chair in speechless astonishment. At last she whispered, “An she’s your bairn! I thocht there was something aboot her that was familiar to me: that explains it a’. She’s yerself ower again when ye were a bit toddler. O that thae days were back again! An hoo did ye lose her?”
“It’s six years since I left you, mother, and my heart wearied among the Yankees to see dear old Huntingdon again. I watched the Gleaner when the show was to be, and arranging to be away a fortnight I came with Ruth and stayed with cousin on the river. I saw you at the show, but you did not see me. In the crowd I lost Ruth. I was here and there seeking for her, when a man told me he had seen a little girl, dressed like mine, in a wagon that drove towards the village. I followed and found he was wrong. Thinking she had driven home with our friends, I hastened to cousin’s, but she was not there. What a night I spent! Next morning I went back to the show grounds, and was struck dumb when the president told me where she was. I explained it all to him. He was very kind and said if I would leave it in his hands he would manage it; when you came in he would put you off for a day or two. Last night he sent me word things had worked well, and I was to go out to you myself. If there is any plot about it to bring us together without your will, it’s none o’ mine,” and sinking before her mother she buried her head in her lap and wept.
What Mrs Crowdie would have done; whether her resentment would have returned and she again have driven away her daughter, God alone knows, but at this juncture the patter of little feet was heard on the gallery and Ruth, with her pinafore full of golden-rod, came shouting, “See what I have got.” One glance at the tearful face upraised to see her, and there was a glad scream of “Mama.” Clasping her child and grandchild in her arms, Mrs Crowdie broke down. “It’s the Lord’s wark; nane save Himsel could hae brocht us thus thegither, an I’se no fecht against His will. By a lost child I’ve found my ain, an we’ll never pairt. Ay, my bonny Ruth, I’m your grannie, and ye’ll bide we me, an help me tak care o’ the hens an the turkeys, and the lave.”
“And, papa.”