The Little Minister Page 15

  Chapter Fourteen.

  THE MINISTER DANCES TO THE WOMAN'S PIPING.

  Gavin let the doctor's warnings fall in the grass. In his joy overNanny's deliverance he jumped the garden gate, whose hinges were ofyarn, and cleverly caught his hat as it was leaving his head inprotest. He then re-entered the mud house staidly. Pleasant was thechange. Nanny's home was as a clock that had been run out, and is setgoing again. Already the old woman was unpacking her box, to increasethe distance between herself and the poorhouse. But Gavin only saw herin the background, for the Egyptian, singing at her work, had becomethe heart of the house. She had flung her shawl over Nanny'sshoulders, and was at the fireplace breaking peats with the leg of astool. She turned merrily to the minister to ask him to chop up hisstaff for firewood, and he would have answered wittily but could not.Then, as often, the beauty of the Egyptian surprised him into silence.I could never get used to her face myself in the after-days. It hasalways held me wondering, like my own Glen Quharity on a summer day,when the sun is lingering and the clouds are on the march, and theglen is never the same for two minutes, but always so beautiful as tomake me sad. Never will I attempt to picture the Egyptian as sheseemed to Gavin while she bent over Nanny's fire, never will Idescribe my glen. Yet a hundred times have I hankered after trying topicture both.

  An older minister, believing that Nanny's anguish was ended, mighthave gone on his knees and finished the interrupted prayer, but nowGavin was only doing this girl's bidding.

  "Nanny and I are to have a dish of tea, as soon as we have set thingsto rights," she told him. "Do you think we should invite the minister,Nanny?"

  "We couldna dare," Nanny answered quickly. "You'll excuse her, Mr.Dishart, for the presumption?"

  "Presumption!" said the Egyptian, making a face.

  "Lassie," Nanny said, fearful to offend her new friend, yet horrifiedat this affront to the minister, "I ken you mean weel, but Mr.Dishart'll think you're putting yoursel' on an equality wi' him." Sheadded in a whisper, "Dinna be so free; he's the Auld Licht minister."

  The gypsy bowed with mock awe, but Gavin let it pass. He had, indeed,forgotten that he was anybody in particular, and was anxious to stayto tea.

  "But there is no water," he remembered, "and is there any tea?"

  "I am going out for them and for some other things," the Egyptianexplained. "But no," she continued, reflectively, "if I go for thetea, you must go for the water."

  "Lassie," cried Nanny, "mind wha you're speaking to. To send aminister to the well!"

  "I will go," said Gavin, recklessly lifting the pitcher. "The well isin the wood, I think?"

  "Gie me the pitcher, Mr. Dishart," said Nanny, in distress. "What atown there would be if you was seen wi't!"

  "Then he must remain here and keep the house till we come back," saidthe Egyptian, and thereupon departed, with a friendly wave of her handto the minister.

  "She's an awfu' lassie," Nanny said, apologetically, "but it'll justbe the way she has been brought up."

  "DO YOU THINK WE SHOULD INVITE THE MINISTER, NANNY?"]

  "She has been very good to you, Nanny."

  "She has; leastwise, she promises to be. Mr. Dishart, she's awa'; whatif she doesna come back?"

  Nanny spoke nervously, and Gavin drew a long face.

  "I think she will," he said faintly. "I am confident of it," he addedin the same voice.

  "And has she the siller?"

  "I believe in her," said Gavin, so doggedly that his own wordsreassured him. "She has an excellent heart."

  "Ay," said Nanny, to whom the minister's faith was more than theEgyptian's promise, "and that's hardly natural in a gaen-aboot body.Yet a gypsy she maun be, for naebody would pretend to be ane thatwasna. Tod, she proved she was an Egyptian by dauring to send you tothe well."

  This conclusive argument brought her prospective dower so close toNanny's eyes that it hid the poorhouse.

  "I suppose she'll gie you the money," she said, "and syne you'll gieme the seven shillings a week?"

  "That seems the best plan," Gavin answered.

  "And what will you gie it me in?" Nanny asked, with something on hermind. "I would be terrible obliged if you gae it to me in saxpences."

  "Do the smaller coins go farther?" Gavin asked, curiously.

  "Na, it's no that. But I've heard tell o' folk giving away half-crownsby mistake for twa-shilling bits; ay, and there's something dizzyingin ha'en fower-and-twenty pennies in one piece; it has sic terriblelittle bulk. Sanders had aince a gold sovereign, and he looked at itso often that it seemed to grow smaller and smaller in his hand tillhe was feared it micht just be a half after all."

  Her mind relieved on this matter, the old woman set off for the well.A minute afterwards Gavin went to the door to look for the gypsy, and,behold, Nanny was no further than the gate. Have you who read everbeen sick near to death, and then so far recovered that you could onceagain stand at your window? If so, you have not forgotten how thebeauty of the world struck you afresh, so that you looked long andsaid many times, "How fair a world it is!" like one who had made adiscovery. It was such a look that Nanny gave to the hill and Caddamwhile she stood at her garden gate.

  Gavin returned to the fire and watched a girl in it in an officer'scloak playing at hide and seek with soldiers. After a time hesighed, then looked round sharply to see who had sighed, then,absent-mindedly, lifted the empty kettle and placed it on theglowing peats. He was standing glaring at the kettle, his arms folded,when Nanny returned from the well.

  "I've been thinking," she said, "o' something that proves the lassieto be just an Egyptian. Ay, I noticed she wasna nane awed when I saidyou was the Auld Licht minister. Weel, I'se uphaud that came frae herliving ower muckle in the open air. Is there no' a smell o' burning inthe house?"

  "I have noticed it," Gavin answered, sniffing, "since you came in. Iwas busy until then, putting on the kettle. The smell is becomingworse."

  Nanny had seen the empty kettle on the fire as he began to speak, andso solved the mystery. Her first thought was to snatch the kettle outof the blaze, but remembering who had put it there, she dared not. Shesidled toward the hearth instead, and saying craftily, "Ay, here itis; it's a clout among the peats," softly laid the kettle on theearthen floor. It was still red with sparks, however, when the gypsyreappeared.

  "Who burned the kettle?" she asked, ignoring Nanny's signs.

  "Lassie," Nanny said, "it was me;" but Gavin, flushing, confessed hisguilt.

  "Oh, you stupid!" exclaimed the Egyptian, shaking her two ounces oftea (which then cost six shillings the pound) in his face.

  At this Nanny wrung her hands, crying, "That's waur than swearing."

  "If men," said the gypsy, severely, "would keep their hands in theirpockets all day, the world's affairs would be more easily managed."

  "Wheesht!" cried Nanny, "if Mr. Dishart cared to set his mind to it,he could make the kettle boil quicker than you or me. But his thochtsis on higher things."

  "No higher than this," retorted the gypsy, holding her hand level withher brow. "Confess, Mr. Dishart, that this is the exact height of whatyou were thinking about. See, Nanny, he is blushing as if I meant thathe had been thinking about me. He cannot answer, Nanny: we have foundhim out."

  "And kindly of him it is no to answer," said Nanny, who had beenexamining the gypsy's various purchases; "for what could he answer,except that he would need to be sure o' living a thousand years aforehe could spare five minutes on you or me? Of course it would bedifferent if we sat under him."

  "And yet," said the Egyptian, with great solemnity, "he is to drinktea at that very table. I hope you are sensible of the honour,Nanny."

  "Am I no?" said Nanny, whose education had not included sarcasm. "I'mtrying to keep frae thinking o't till he's gone, in case I should letthe teapot fall."

  "You have nothing to thank me for, Nanny," said Gavin, "but much forwhich to thank this--this----"

  "This haggarty-taggarty Egyptian," suggested the girl. Then, lookingat Gavin
curiously, she said, "But my name is Babbie."

  "That's short for Barbara," said Nanny; "but Babbie what?"

  "Yes, Babbie Watt," replied the gypsy, as if one name were as good asanother.

  "Weel, then, lift the lid off the kettle, Babbie," said Nanny, "forit's boiling ower."

  Gavin looked at Nanny with admiration and envy, for she had saidBabbie as coolly as if it was the name of a pepper-box.

  Babbie tucked up her sleeves to wash Nanny's cups and saucers, whicheven in the most prosperous days of the mud house had only been in useonce a week, and Gavin was so eager to help that he bumped his head onthe plate-rack.

  "Sit there," said Babbie, authoritatively, pointing, with a cup in herhand, to a stool, "and don't rise till I give you permission."

  To Nanny's amazement, he did as he was bid.

  "I got the things in the little shop you told me of," the Egyptiancontinued, addressing the mistress of the house, "but the horrid manwould not give them to me until he had seen my money."

  "Enoch would be suspicious o' you," Nanny explained, "you being anEgyptian."

  "Ah," said Babbie, with a side-glance at the minister, "I am only anEgyptian. Is that why you dislike me, Mr. Dishart?"

  Gavin hesitated foolishly over his answer, and the Egyptian, with atowel round her waist, made a pretty gesture of despair.

  "He neither likes you nor dislikes you," Nanny explained; "you forgethe's a minister."

  "That is what I cannot endure," said Babbie, putting the towel to hereyes, "to be neither liked nor disliked. Please hate me, Mr. Dishart,if you cannot lo--ove me."

  Her face was behind the towel, and Gavin could not decide whether itwas the face or the towel that shook with agitation. He gave Nanny alook that asked, "Is she really crying?" and Nanny telegraphed back,"I question it."

  "Come, come," said the minister, gallantly, "I did not say that Idisliked you."

  Even this desperate compliment had not the desired effect, for thegypsy continued to sob behind her screen.

  "I can honestly say," went on Gavin, as solemnly as if he were makinga statement in a court of justice, "that I like you."

  Then the Egyptian let drop her towel, and replied with equalsolemnity:

  "Oh, tank oo! Nanny, the minister says me is a dood 'ittle dirl."

  "He didna gang that length," said Nanny, sharply, to cover Gavin'sconfusion. "Set the things, Babbie, and I'll make the tea."

  The Egyptian obeyed demurely, pretending to wipe her eyes every timeGavin looked at her. He frowned at this, and then she affected to betoo overcome to go on with her work.

  "Tell me, Nanny," she asked presently, "what sort of man this Enochis, from whom I bought the things?"

  "He is not very regular, I fear," answered Gavin, who felt that he hadsat silent and self-conscious on his stool too long.

  "Do you mean that he drinks?" asked Babbie.

  "No, I mean regular in his attendance."

  The Egyptian's face showed no enlightenment.

  "His attendance at church," Gavin explained.

  "He's far frae it," said Nanny, "and as a body kens, Joe Cruickshanks,the atheist, has the wite o' that. The scoundrel telled Enoch that thegreat ministers in Edinbury and London believed in no hell except sicas your ain conscience made for you, and ever since syne Enoch hasbeen careless about the future state."

  "Ah," said Babbie, waving the Church aside, "what I want to know iswhether he is a single man."

  "He is not," Gavin replied; "but why do you want to know that?"

  "Because single men are such gossips. I am sorry he is not single, asI want him to repeat to everybody what I told him."

  "Trust him to tell Susy," said Nanny, "and Susy to tell the town."

  "His wife is a gossip?"

  "Ay, she's aye tonguing, especially about her teeth. They're folk wi'siller, and she has a set o' false teeth. It's fair scumfishing tohear her blawing about thae teeth, she's so fleid we dinna ken thatthey're false."

  Nanny had spoken jealously, but suddenly she trembled with apprehension.

  "Babbie," she cried, "you didna speak about the poorhouse to Enoch?"

  The Egyptian shook her head, though of the poorhouse she had beenforced to speak, for Enoch, having seen the doctor going home alone,insisted on knowing why.

  "But I knew," the gypsy said, "that the Thrums people would be veryunhappy until they discovered where you get the money I am to giveyou, and as that is a secret, I hinted to Enoch that your benefactoris Mr. Dishart."

  "You should not have said that," interposed Gavin. "I cannot fostersuch a deception."

  "They will foster it without your help," the Egyptian said. "Besides,if you choose, you can say you get the money from a friend."

  "Ay, you can say that," Nanny entreated with such eagerness thatBabbie remarked a little bitterly:

  "There is no fear of Nanny's telling any one that the friend is agypsy girl."

  "Na, na," agreed Nanny, again losing Babbie's sarcasm. "I winna leton. It's so queer to be befriended by an Egyptian."

  "It is scarcely respectable," Babbie said.

  "It's no," answered simple Nanny.

  I suppose Nanny's unintentional cruelty did hurt Babbie as much asGavin thought. She winced, and her face had two expressions, the onecynical, the other pained. Her mouth curled as if to tell the ministerthat gratitude was nothing to her, but her eyes had to struggle tokeep back a tear. Gavin was touched, and she saw it, and for a momentthey were two people who understood each other.

  "I, at least," Gavin said in a low voice, "will know who is thebenefactress, and think none the worse of her because she is agypsy."

  At this Babbie smiled gratefully to him, and then both laughed, forthey had heard Nanny remarking to the kettle, "But I wouldna hae beennane angry if she had telled Enoch that the minister was to take histea here. Susy'll no believe't though I tell her, as tell her Iwill."

  To Nanny the table now presented a rich appearance, for besides theteapot there were butter and loaf-bread and cheesies: a biscuit ofwhich only Thrums knows the secret.

  "Draw in your chair, Mr. Dishart," she said, in suppressed excitement.

  "Yes," said Babbie, "you take this chair, Mr. Dishart, and Nanny willhave that one, and I can sit humbly on the stool."

  But Nanny held up her hands in horror.

  "Keep us a'!" she exclaimed; "the lassie thinks her and me is to sitdown wi' the minister! We're no to gang that length, Babbie; we'rejust to stand and serve him, and syne we'll sit down when he hasrisen."

  "Delightful!" said Babbie, clapping her hands. "Nanny, you kneel onthat side of him, and I will kneel on this. You will hold the butterand I the biscuits."

  But Gavin, as this girl was always forgetting, was a lord ofcreation.

  "Sit down both of you at once!" he thundered, "I command you."

  "SIT DOWN, BOTH OF YOU, AT ONCE!"]

  Then the two women fell into their seats; Nanny in terror, Babbieaffecting it.