"You seem to wish to act very generously by them," said he, with a grave simplicity.
"Oh, I tell you I have plenty of schemes!" she said, half laughing at her own enthusiasm. "But I get no sympathy—no encouragement. There is Miss Glendinning, who simply sits and mocks——"
"Mamie, how can you say such things!" Käthchen protested—for what would this handsome young gentleman from Heimra think of her?
"I have two new hand-looms coming next week," Mary continued; "and I am going to send to the Inverness Exhibition, and to Dudley House, if there is another bazaar held there; and I am going to give local prizes, too; and I may get over some of the Harris people to show them the best dyes, and so forth. But all that will take time; and in the meanwhile I am chiefly anxious to put myself right with the tenants by means of this commission and a complete revision of the rents. A commission they can trust—formed of people they know——"
"They will be ill to please if they don't meet you half way—and gladly," said young Ross.
Mary Stanley's eyes shone with pleasure at these hopeful words: she had not met with much encouragement hitherto.
"Does Mr. Watson know Gaelic?" was her next question.
"In a kind of a way, I should imagine," he said. "He is a south countryman; but I should think he knew as much Gaelic as was necessary for his business."
"And to talk to the people about general things—about their crops—and their rents?" she asked again.
"In a kind of a way he might."