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Las diagrammes suivants illustrent la mAthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 ^*-:«l MlCtOCOfV RISOIUTION TBT CHAtT (ANSI ond ISO TEST CHART No. 2) ^O ■ 2.8 imH ■■1 Li. 1^ Hi 1^ Hi IS Ib |2J Inn^^H 2.0 1.8 ^S^ 1653 Eo5l Mam street S'.^S Rochester, Me» rork Ufina nc. ^ (716) 482 -0300- Pt,orle "^ ^BP! (716) 288 - 5989 - Fax Inc I P^PENNY^ PLAIN % O.DOUGLAS ^ :;*c. PENNY PLAIN _ O. DOUGLAS PENNY PLAIN BY O. DOUGLAS AUTHOR OF "the SETONd,'' fTC HODDER k STOUGHTON, LIMITED PUBLISHERS :: :: TORONTO Ph. (.003 COPYRIGHT. 1090. ■T OEOROE H. DORAN COICPANT PRINTED IN THE UNITED ffTATBS OF AMERICA '&' Kwmz M ■V^J ■ I '.ninll, iiL fc «• 111 I W C/'i* ,Sm «!)-",''..l? .y' '.^4£ f .. . ,r^T ■,ff' TO MY BROTHER WALTER 1 1 "f r • ■"»:,,!■'■' , ■■^■*%||liU.. ^ w ,, •!*='■ .f. ;;. ■- ;#' i^l V' 'k«, > '"'Musii. i-'iPS'' .A Shopman: "You may have your choice or twopence coloured." -penny plain SotEM»S„*..Bov: "Penny plain, pW „.,(,„,„ value for the money." 'i-^M'i.m.^jM^mim^uV. «^iijy!ra-i!L^.t m ' PENNY PLAIN Il •-Vjl"' :mM^.mrtF^^%'i PENNY PLAIN CHAPTER I "The actora are at band And by their show You ahall know all that you are like to know." Midsummer Night's Dream. ILT IVn^!^ Pnorsford: four-thirty by the clock * on a chill October afternoon. ^e hills circling the little town wore shrouded with T'A A }^ ^^^ ^"^^ *^^* «P*^^ the Tweed and divided the town propei^the Highgate, the Nethergate, the Eastgate^f.om the residential part, was almost deserted On the left bank of the r^] Zl W loomed ghostly m the gathering dusk. Round its grey walls still stood woods of larch and fir, and in front the hnks of Tweed moved through pleasant green pastures. But where once ladies on palfreys hmig with beUs hunted jr.ir '"Z^''^^'''" *^^'^ °^^ ^^ t^« «eat little dwellings of prosperous, decent folk; and where the good iiing James wrote his rhymes, and listened to the singing f «^? T V ' ^i'^^'" ^^^^^' ^ P^^i^ Kirk refred pf rr ^•^''^Y^"'" '*^P^^ ^« ^«^ any longer for Peel to hght the beacon telling of tie comingTf o^ troublesome English neighbours. Telegraph ,4res now carried the matter, and a lar^e bus Tet"^ them ^t Z trains and conveyed them to that flambovant pil« in red ^tone, witii Its glorious views, its medicinal baais,'and its 9 10 PENNY PLAIN bttud-onlivonod meals, known ua Priomford Hydropathie. Aa I havo said, it was t«i-tinje in Prioreford. Tho schools hod skaited, and tho children, finnc to their hoinw. In the little houso« down by tho riverside brown U'aimU stood on tho hobs, and rosy-fucetl women cut brcvul and buttered scone*, and slapped Uieir children with a fine impartiality; while in tho big houses on the Hill, servants, walking delicately, laid out tempting tea- tables, and tho solacing smell of hot toast filled tho air. Most of tho smaller houses in Priorsford wore very much of ouo pattern and all fairly recently built, but there was one old house, an odd little rough stone cottage, standing at the end of a row of villas, its back turned to its parvenu neighbours, its eyes lifted to the hills. A flagged path led up to tho front door through a herbaceous border, which now only held a few chrysanthemums and Michaelmas daisies (Perdita would have scorned them as flowers for the old age), but in spring and in summer blazed in a sweet disorder of old-fashioned blossoms. This little house was called Tho Rigs. It was a queer little house, and a queer little family lived in it; Jardine was their name, and they sat togt-Liier m their living-room on this October evening. Generally they all talkeu at once, and the loudest voice prevailed, but to-night there was not so much competition, and Jean frequently found herself holding the floor alone. David, busy packing books into a wooden box, was the reason for the comparative quiet. He was nineteen, and in the morning he was going to Oxford to begin his first term there. He had so long looked forward to it that he felt dazed by the nearness of his goal. He was a good- looking boy, with honest eyes and a firm mouth. His only sister, Jean, four years older than himself, left the table and sat on the edge of the box watching him. PENNY PLAFN 11 • gay tunc t» pro,„ u> her«lf l,„w happy wm tho u> be leuit oror bor. Pcrli.p, «!,„ f,.lt tluU h« needed encour.g«„ent thi. te night Z Loma . 1°^.: ^'J"""; ^"^"^ ' "'■""""y "f fo""-*-. with . rough head .nd . voice over which he had u„ „ mmL w« «,1 at the tea-table. He wa. „tJ...r aJmm^ of I Z'f T'',' '^^' ''"' I """-n got hungry.'^' bov w?A . ' "f ""' "^'"' " • <•»? window a Bmall boy, with a dog and a cat, wa. playing at being on a «ft The boy'. n.„„ wa, Gcrva«, T.nnton^ b«t h7wa" Wn to a large crcle of acquaintance, a. -tbe Mbor," S wil™ S - '"^'>,"'«' »* The Kig,Vince b. was two. He was a handsome child with an almost «.«any d^arm of manner and a gift of nuk^bcLeZ made his days one long excitement. ^thone!L_herSti::it:::lre5lan::l;!: ana Mratchod. Then go— to your doom I" He clasped his hands behind him in a NaDoleonio manner and stood gWmily watching the t^i™^' Sir ,*^."' "7"'^ ''"' carpetTwbile Peterll f^ tm-ier and the wickedest dog in Priorsford) crashed ryrnd':f'r." "-"^ '-"' ^'''"■" "« - «-i^^ «1 PKNNY PLAIN Horo ,. Air.. M«C.mh for tl.o ....Hhingn." womtn, the, w,.|..w of ««.., AmJn'w MCW, a Cl^ •It'ck row from llu> tall« ri>lii<>t.itttU- . i liailo.1 by Uiu Mlior aii.l inviu.a ou i„ i|„. ,„f, llo «.t .l,w.. „„ ,1,0 „p,„r„o,l tal.l,., l,i, 1,,^,, »,„,,w|i„„ on the o.>rp..t, a„,l ,,„„„„„, .,,,„„ ',;„„,i„^. '^,^*' f Tin;.. J':/hu it;:!;"""^ "■""•■'"•^ '-» "^' "■"'' "- no clotl.. Ay, I'eicr,' ,(,„ ,,„i,| „„^,,j, ,. ,, ^ Z'rftT^' '■'" '""' '■',"" '^"'''' ■"" ' -» '-^«' .>t were ctter tho Hhcfp aguju U»o day." lotor turned away hi« head a. if deeplv shockod at 1.0 accusation and Mr. M^Conh, with the^Va-d;^th over iier arm, regarded him with an indulgent «mile She h7d infin.to tolerance for P«^.r'. short-comings. 1 eter was kinna late last night," she would sav as if hlm-'sL'^i:? 7-!^V-^>>and, ''an' I juist J" I'fo^' liira. She Lad also ,„f!n,te leisure. It was no use Jean 1? 1, V"^^ ^"' *^"""- J^"" "^^'^r k»ow whether ^ Jaugh or be cross, but she gc^nerallv laughed On(^ when the house had been upset bv ijluoss and tramed nurses were in occupation, Jean had ^ ^he ■*#-i^ PENNY PUIN jg boll mpmMIy, and, moivinir «,» -„.,-«. l . and :;.'„ :l^:^„r:;.7'v™" *'"':'"; •""■■■"^ uittii^ wu>« Huch a troMHuro, un.l u wuva nm^k ]^'r::r::;v,l;r ''"^ --'^ -'^ "-- ""- '-"« "Ifclla I)atl.Kat<''8 oxpo-tm' l,or lo,l»,,.r ,he mom." Th„ ^^n^ w„ „...„ to iK, carried away, Lut'MTM.C^i: "Oil, U she?" saUl JcHin. "Who U i th..*'. in (J«.h, .MuKKi.-!" cjttcalatol J,».l, him '^'^ ■"'" ""' •" »•' *«'• Jock." Jo«u «minded for^^ Honourablo~8ho niver naw yin." Have you seen one ?'» Jock aaked. tnolukm follaye w,' black m«„acher^but he juirt^yo 14 PKNNY PLAIN Mid, 'It's 0MJ to draw a pictur/ and he would»« ow that thejr win onvtking hut meoHenihlo to look at. An mind you, bo wi« tiAiL Whiu I saw tb« lord in S Oeorgo'a, I H«id to iuajH>i', I tayn, Andra wit rioiit,* Mjf." Hhe liftii! up Uio tray and pr(>|Nir«il u> ilwpar "W«el, ho'II no' \m uiucido troubloil wi' them whuur ho gone, puir man. The Bible iays. Not many great, nc many uoklo." "D'yon think," said M^jor in u plt^aiwntly iut<*ri»wion that dincretioi was tho bettor part of vaKmr, and in npit« of an oncourag ing twinkle in the eyea of Jock, finiidiod dianuroly— "th Other Place." **Haw, haw," laughwl Jock, who waa wnsijitentl; amuaed by Mhor and his antics. "I'm aorry for you friends, oW chap. Do I know them ?'' *'Well," said Mhor, "there's Napoleon and Dick Turpii ftnd Orahafii of Claverhouse and Prince Charlie and ' "Mhoi^-you'ro talking too much," said David, wh< waa jotting down fignres in a notebook. "It's to be hoped," said Jean to Mrs. M'Cosh, "thai the honourable lady will suit Bella Bathgate, for Bella honest woman, won't put herself alwut to suit anybody, But sho'a been a good neighbour to us. I always feel sr safe with her near; she's equal to a nhing from a burst pipe to a broken arm. ... I do hope that landlord ol ours in Tx)ndon will never take it into his head to come back and live in Priorsford. If wo had to leave Tlio Riga and Bella Bathgate I simply don't know what we'd do." "We could easy get a hoose \^n' mair conveniences," Mri. M'Cosh reminded her. She had laid down the tray IB »♦ PENNY PLAIN iif«in ami ttoo^l with Iht hw„J,» ,.„ her hit. *d h«r ho«.| on ,.n« .J,lo, d«.|>ly tutm^tr^. "Thae wm n^ yillw n tho U.«ho|M, Ko«.| «r« a f«ir treat, wi' a jmntry aff .Hmvm,„mr..M comrmro,! to ol.| thirk wdU «i.ntont«I to bo a servant t.» ».h, with no rr i^-t of anythmff for her old a^o hut tho workhouse chanty of rolationn, and koejw choery and never a moan and nover loaes her intoront in thinim . " "But you're mi rich," aaid .Took. ^"No," said Jean ruefully. -Isn't it odd that no one €nrer l«»ve8 ns a legacy? But I nw'dn't say that for it would be nujoh odder if anyone .li™-H w^ntiLttd'S i?ln7S ''t^ r^-^ ^"'^-' l>ean.vmiceonthehWsS 'N^t^ f.*?*^ """''^ but if fl,ev do come I donV .^'n/ T^ '"'"''y' ?"''»!«' al. about' But I a^^T LTmt KnStT'"^ r:!j: o^c'?-'" ^« -er,thin,rre.,f Ct^rpii' I w.h we bad a Tudor rcsidZ"""" ^"^''"''"' ^' UrlctZZ."'"''" """^ P""'«^ ''-. "-ten Fn. IT PENNY PLAIN "Thank you, David," said Joan. and Jock had p-asjK,.! tho op,K,rtunity to go to his b^^oks, whdo Afhor and Potor had lai.l thornH..lve. down on tJ.e n,K l>ofore ho fire and wo.v rolling on each other in great content. J^n ami Bavi,! «at tORC^hor o„ tho «,fa, their arms departure approach,.s conversation die« at the fonnt l,..7rr"" I,"'T '" "■'■* "'"" *"^ "'"I'or would h«.o said on tins art evening to hor Iwy „ho «•„., ,.„i„g out mto tho world. Never had she feit so inade,,™," OnRht she U, sa.v thing. u> him? Warn him against Z-k 2 «-; « Joan who knew ahont as much o^ „vi a «mmm«l hnnet!) Bnt David was such a wise boy and o^tT/ if A T, P"/"'"*' '^^"'^ '"■"' ♦" «^ 1'™ dole out his Render stock of money, for there never was a Jarome born who did not love to be generous. Sho looked at him fondly. "I do hope vou won't find U too much of a pmch, David. The worsVof it is, you will be w.th people who have heaps of mone,-, and I Wra d you'll hate to feel shabby." m»3° "n^-T '"^ P°"''" ^'-l °""'l »*<">tly. "I'll m^age all r,ght. Don't you worr^. What I W4 -MTlf irmThrS^" ^™ "^ "-^ ^'-- ^"^ .o:r s^ri itLry^t„irz — ».ong Wk^ Try and get il the g„^ o OrfoT may get later you can never get that back." She leaned Wi and gave a great sigh. "How I wish I couM m^ ta a splendid time for yon, but I can't, my dear J . A _i ^imz Aii=ona rusy ones; I hope the t I" » i I Bs-Ui 18 PENNY PLAIN •c\» Thomson had ne^-er sent the s^u^esTr for Eng and unfortified by sausages and poached ^ S , T ™'" "'"* ^ » «™" along the lighted ^ose gay places, .d for thXl ^01^"^'^"^ There was a cinema, too, and that was a tou^ of W s?y "l!w T'r' r* *"''^" «««'» *« w^d ufst pa„rn •" J ',' ' ""•■ ^^' '^'^ <»-<' country-no ju St pa,.-,fl,n-,le and glaury roads, ye ken. We hev ™, au piain-stanes an' a pictur hoose.'' We hev gas \Uen Mrs. M'Cosh left the room Jock returned to m^ PENNY PLAIN j^ Some hours later when Jock and Mhor were fast asleep and David h.s packing finished, was preparing toTt^ bed, Jean slipped into the room. % «> go to She stood looking at the open trunk on the floor at "In no time at all," said David Jean wa^ carrying a little book, which she now laid iB W h^ '"'*"'~'' ""^ '«''' -'^'■« »f What wa. CHAPTER ir "Tb«7 have their exits and their entrance*." A« you Like It. 'pHE ten o'clock express from Euston to Scotland * ™ tearing along on its daily journey. It was that barren hour in the afternoon when luncheon is over and forgotten, and tea is yet far .listant, and most of the ii^tXitr '''''' ''^' "^ ''-''^'^ '^'-^ ^ -^ AJone in a firetclMs carriage sat Bella Batheate'a lodgo-^M,., l>a,„ela Ucton. A dre^aing-bag and f f urt Zl 'aMrf '^'" '»'l.'"««azinee la/onlhe oppiu. The letter ran: Th« Ix)BD BirooBOOGH, c/o Kino, Kino, A Oa, Bombay. ^^ ™ n,: ™''rr "4 "■'' '^'"•'"8), thai we would o™r ^e world m search of aport, mine tcTamnae m^ weU, to ahme, to be admired. You, I imagine from your letters (what a faithful correspondent ^u have C Biddy, all your wandering life), are still findi^l^J in t: mme has palled. You will jump naturally to tte brotherly conclusion that / have pilled-that I cease to amuse, that I find myself taking a second or even a ttirf 32 #'!i PENNY PLAIN „ plaj^e, I who was always first; that, in short, I am t sour«d and disappointed woman, "Honestly I don't think that is so. I am still beautiful: vouT 7«^J^P«thetic than in my somewhat callous youth, ^orefore more ,>opular: I am good company: I have tho influonoo that money carries with it, and I could even now make what is known as a 'brilliaut' mar- riage. Did you over wondcr^verybody elao did, I know L?L 7"^^r'i\ ?'"^P'^' "^y ^^^' ^^"«« the ioH. m ''?^ I'' ^^^° ' a^ xne ... and now I am forty. (How s^rk an.l almost indc^cent it looks written down like that! At forty, one is supposed to have got over all youthful fancies and disappointments, and latfly InlT "^ ?"' reasonable to contemplate a common- sense marna^. A pohtician, wise, honoured, powerful- and sixty. What oould be more suitable? So suitable that I ran away-an absurdly young thing to do at forty- ^ I am writing to you in the train on my way to S«.dand. . . . You see, Biddy, I quite suddenly ^saw myseu growing old, saw all the arid years in frW of me, and saw that it was a very dreadful thing to grow old caring on y for the things of time. It frightenod^e badly. I don't want to go in bondage to the fear of age and death. I want to grow old decently, and I am sure one ought to begin quite early learning how. " 'Clear eyes do dim at last And cheeks outlive their rose: Time, heedless of the past, No loving kindnesfl know8.» Y^ and 'youth's a stuff will not endure,' and 'golden lad. and garls all must like chimi^ey-sweopers come to dust' The poets aren't at all helpful, for youth-poor brave youth-won t listen to their warnings, and they seem to nave no ionsolation to offer to middle age. i ** PENNY PLAIN month. Wa, it o„W la* V"" >!' """''* ''"' ^""^ • •houWorioK, the 8h-,V^^ .u '"•'' P"***"" •«"». the «»mhii„^, ';i,r «Sd"^^^vr^.,"'' r-^^- "■« you said w., a,„ w"^t ^f 2?."f ""<'' »1,'f»l literary ^, and added by way of « «„.i * , '''^""'PosmK cod-fish,' *"n.an had f kind heart "^" '^" ^o" '^°"«''t the .o:?^lt ^M^-thlrmoTf ' '"l^" '■'^ «^^ tl>oughtIwa,doirSLdo' *l"y *«n.e be it wid. I o-d even my ne,e,^i"/ ^ X^■"««'""-"«', seemed to make me m^ tL. f ^ "'*"" ^e" "™ply "Do yo„ rem^bS7,Zt"5i:!i""''«"'^«^ Randal, carried away byXt • • "'J.^'"' '«"«»'« iow W- ey« were toS w ST f^'T' l''^ "»■"«■"«» """I then Fairyland lo«l ril^Va^Jf'^ """' ""» old earth he had left and ^T T ""^ """^^ *»' the autnmn, and the strwL^f -^ '?™*^ "^ «'"°™er and "I» it, do yon ™^ L '^ *""' l-i* ^iend. t «..t I find, wr'isrm? s:i "t^™*' ™"- a butterfly and find' ^f^rddtTr^^ '? ""■* --« ^^r"™"^' fiy. .ha„ wr^^tmr^-t"::,,^ «o.n. hn^n, my«.f at Bidg^ro^T^h otte^^r M^tT PENNY PLAIN ,g Abl».; it would h.TO boen the «une «rt of trunmolled land buTth^? *'«';-W. y«d..ing, W«t Highl^d S«^ r.Dd, but tho Lowlaud^ tho Uordcr,, oo, mother-, oouutry- "I remcmberod how Lewis Elliot (I wonder whare he ■»J'ow-.t « afio. since I heard of himT^S ZmI -« about a li„io t„w„ on tho Tweed Jm Prionforf. It wa. h,a owu )i,tl„ b,wn, hi, hirthpla™ «d I Zn^t the n.n,o »unR i,„elf like . ,ong. I mari^nirie^Zut room, and found that in , UttU. I»u,e elS HHltZ ow„„l by one Bella Bathgate, I mkht M™ T rv^' ^e name of the ho„« a^dTt, o^^^td ftpe t.^1 m Prior,! onl peace and great content " ^ ""P* *» ^<* Having been more or lem of a fool for forty yem. I am now going u, try to get nnderrtanding. iTwon^te eas^ for we „„ ,„,d ,hat 'it cannot be goXn wiTg^Id^ neither ahall silver be weighed for the prl^ tW ^ ' No mention shall bo made of coral. aSd » -U L"4e price of wis« '«"'' *"M I would, lor mo t«»th aro m> wide Mnnrt " W»,; i Having p„.,Je.J Pan.olu until vZ2T\\.. i T'L'*'" other things engaged her attentTon " ""'"'' "'"^ tJi!™ ^^ ^""'^^ pa««^ng«r for Prior8foron till I .Iron HoJ Z?^ ' •* "*• "*» "P "d A» I Haul, yoii may liro for vo«ni- on ♦».« «.» l j you may |f,> vory mnMonly " ^ ' '**' ''*****' *»»«»**• 'mo am Vr ,"''"' ^'' ° "''""^^ ^''-' ^- »>roko out- Who urn I fo loavo my money to? Toll mo tJiat " ' Ho 8i>oko «* if Uio doctor worn ^^Ki / . "Haven't y.,u rolationa?" ".Nono." "The hoH. ital« arc always ^lad of fund.." "kt?"' ''" ^^"^ ^'*^"'* *^ ^«-» from ma" .^ ^ Have you no gr^.t friend^„, „„, ,,, are rnterested —no one." J^ytliuig for me for nothing encouraged kindnew. * P***®°^ *»«_.' __i- . _ part of "A , ""7^" " ""me^ to yuuf- A place they o^l P^o.-fo^d. I wa. born thera" i a ^ PENNY PLAIN ^""^ «» 'or . n.o„e„t the da,, ^, «,^ ,, p^, "I haven't fished," he qnU « • y™ ever fy the CaiZn^tSV "" " '"^- ""'^ Pd Sa,e a ha,f-ari,amed Ia„X "^"'"*' ^"^^ •"* »'«' r"::; .r oirmtvtr -n "■ ^- ^"^ <■<> »?^-rt darg; it', hardly WO.S,!;'' • ^"T^^'- l-ifo-' a fd new come near yon »„^*?""'^- ^ "'»''. though, ""PPily ti,l I drop^.^Bit'wol.rr''' ""^ S0"» » ^^oiarity, mindd" °' '"^ ""^ ""nsy to for me without em>Zti„7^ P*""" "ho does aomethinit what^ do I owe yo^l^''* ""^ ^'*"»- • • • By the wl^ ho had p^'pfaio ™' ""7 «o««liDg «,rrowfui, for "It is the only set of th« kin/i «»,y sideboard stood aRaimt Irw-l j^^" ^ f^"^ laden with vase, andThoLrh J W °^ , ™' ""'""'y ..•»t^ a deep e.a„ s,.t'Zt:.^^Zi. '°""' ™'''"' some rug»-S,ey " , 1 ' i."'"'/^* *«» to se^d me dozen cn^ns Lr^rr'^"' '"'?' *''"^"'« » --ea.ritr-d™s:i:^i-^Tdtts •3 I '* PKNXY PLAIN I wan not to bring them with me I AnA u . . , man to watch tlio walU wh„n i, • , warning the to womierin. aloU itT ""■""'' "P "'" '""'H and tad bL; asHTto have dinir "7°' *" """^ ^«""- Si" Pamela had come down .nT l'"^^' °'"' «' ''«'" "'o'^k doth folded ™n tlo r,, 1 ''^'""'«-™""' ■■^ fi^d « »«» table. A luifo Tfo^ .^ '^ T ™'^''^'^ "^ th" ™und on one side by 1 eno™. '^'' '"^ '"' '^^ ''''"^' ^'^''^d four lar^e aZn? 1»M """ ""<" ^ *•■« ""'er by An aapidttrra "t Z^Z f."" \,"""^ *»""^ The dinner oonsUt^oT^^f "■« *"'"'« -J^eoratioDa. pnddi4 mad: 'Sut^; a^d^^S '""7^' ^^ ^ "- in,^ee^nril.l1elfafdird ^rV'T "''"'^ all the thincs wn !,».,„„ , auflicient I am sure to please ^d bTautify a" 7 T "•"•' """"^ ""^'''^ its simplest," Td hf rl ^ '''°SS*''«^-*1'" « life at breakfast-cup ^d wt^ male rf 9 """l ^J^r"- «»« ^ « boiling water. ^ Somebody's essence and lu^rnthL^'n ^p tr-Td S ^™ '^^'^ ''^- the nether millstone A, Vhl' A - '' ™' *» ''"d " iron pillow cov^^d" byt" r; , o:.*;:f .^:? "■" " ^t under three nair^i n? »,«, j kJ i'" P' ^°° ^^7 crushed work quiirr d b7 IKl*""'^.''^ " ^*^ "7 iieJiaa mother and containing I PENNY PLAIN g, mmples of the oloUies of all the family— from the lata M™. Bathgato-a wod.ling^own of puce^LurXZno™ to her youngest son' fin,t pair of "brock,," thTZZ «noll,«g atvongly of uaphtha from the kM U,ore iTbll lam-rogmful thoughts of other beds came to her She ^eU she ha, not fully appreciate,! thom-thoso warm! soft, embrac.ng hods, with »atin.smooth ahects and pilW cases smolhng „f „ven,Ior „n,l other sw™t things, f^ he" like blanket,, an,l rose^olonrcd eiderdowns She eame downstairs in the morning to the bleak sitting- room filled w.th a d.staste for simplicity which she felt S be unworthy. For breakfast there was a whole loaf on a platter three breakfa.t rolls hot from t^o tk and ^0 fam,ly toa,t;r„ek fnll „f tough, damp toast. A Cge pa e green duek's t^g sat heavily in an Weup ean^ hut not cohered, by a strange rci flannel ling^^^sm: .ng a cook's head, which Pamela Ie.tmed later waHaS Z>"r >""' \'^ '"""' ^"'" "-o »ale of work f^ Foreign M.ss.ons. A metal teapot and water-jug stood in two green worsted nests. ^ I i^^h^r"^"} J""^'^ ™' ^""^ *^- "I'"' ''-"Ort sure to terself, but it doesn't matter." Already she was Tawsv 't 5 f *^-' f "°--^^«'«^I>nt"-^he pushed It away— "I don't think I can eat it." She drank some tea and ato a baker's rolL which was excellent; then she rang the belh When Bella appeared she at oLce noticed the headless but uneaten egg, and, taking it up, smelt it. _ Whats wra:^ wi' the ^?" she demanded. Oh, noting," said Pamela quickly. "It's a lovely egg getically- you know how it is with egga-4ither you •5 ■.■ J r " til, *: ' • ♦'* il i!' niUIIL.nSi ■ i •* PENNV PLAIN «" "It (hem or yon c.n't T . »■.'»' »y he.,! .urL away Jto "''*,.''•'• «<"•' egS. ""'"Sr .bout ,ho y„,k «_,^J:' "P^t There i. «,^ ""der M,« B„,|,g„,„., , , Her voice trailed aw., - 'tcz-rUw-;pft^s awe J J:ou are Miss Bnfl.^ * «"'''^Ltlvf »\that kind.., °- ^'°'"> °^rretnornaethi«g It would be sEoh a pit. « f v°*T"P'>'' '« a safe place? '"«> -ho pretty grasae,, it woulfS^^' T^** *■"« now, iappened to them, for v2 ^ ''™''^' «f anylhiJ rep^oe them." ' '" ^ ■" "'■^ we could nev«.,C^ r:Sl?'---C2ef,--:,t ^-"thL^X^'Ztilitlt'''-^: ""■« .act is, a a cush.„„ or two and that sort T2^ "" * ''''7 » t"^ at home, yon know so if Z^ *'?«-«o make me feel "■ake ™om for the^', rahlrj""" ^^J kindly itt ua Bella Bathgate iIoZJI ^ "I """* ""ig^d" was to her as%he a^^oH", *" ^™ ''■^'"W that ^"•e» of "the g^^l "^ ■">' "y^' and sighed forZ Aweel," she said '"rn -^ .i gang awa'. IVo ne4r had ^^ "^ '" » «»« °ntil ye SB i i PENNY PLAIN ^ "i^'ST' ■ """^ *° •»"•« »^" •^o "-W -or have hli^la *"* **^. "^ «"** '''>«' th* door c!o«cI to thf. room T^W ^ .r"' "• """' K«* something done whero e^ in the ^e.x. r/t^ir.oiTor:: street for some cuahioni and ruK»-this ;, ,^ vl]^T A«y« "J^to co-^ora „e boneathrlX'' ""' """ ' '"^^ '^^ -remaps 1 shall only havp. Tir«™ Itmightbeworao. I don't^l^v tTT *" ™»^"« ««^ She has been a houa^aidt^ " ^°" "»"' ^^^^'>- ye.™^ and she maidXe on™ whTj? r ^*"*' '"' '"■»« » when that anperior d.^ ^^^ "" "° ""'"''''y' on this trek I eladlv left tTTiLi^ *° accimpany me in her place. ^ ^ ^' "^ """^ ""1 hrougnt Mai™,n ve:a«:n^:"plLi::^."S\r." ' '^'- •»" i» con. She reads the worlS S Ho'^^k" 7" '^''■T grin, "are for mnaic-halla-'W I .Sf ,?""' iV' "'"' ^'^'l^ her if she were fond rf mm!. ^ v""^' ^*^'^' ^ asked and then with a c^'^Ia^r? l^f '''^''"' ^'^ ^^' ahe is about fifty, LdlTat i^^J^T"?^"""""' ^ "^"^ be a much more comfo^Me^e!^ •'"'''?«' *» "^^ 'i" Juliet who would ba^T^IT\ '". *^' '""'« *t»n "Well, at presenlw. ?'"^"'™r8. present Mawaon and I are rather like PENNY PLAIN ,7 Robin«» Or««e ^ „„ F^i,,_y ^ ^^ ^^ ,, PameU rtoppcd and lookcj out of the winJn» t^ were letted. ^ * "^^' ^^ *"^ a om. Pamela shook hands with Mhor and patted Peter and produced a box of chocolates. ' ^ ;;i hope the/re the kind you like?" she said nolitely don t suppose you have anything for Peter? A biscuit '/f l * 86 or a bit of cakni P-* _> i.. for oaie and J.^. f^^^; ) ^ --. He;, dwa,. hnngrj had neither cake nortS^r''!"'"'"''^ that aha gate for any. ^"* '^'^ ^*^ed not aak If i„ B^th- -t ;Tou neHKiK^fr^-^^^Vte/'Mhor pointed you hke," "'"'<* o^ W. I'll ^i£ ^j.^ ^ Pamela heard him J^'tc'hen ,|o<,r and borin "^i-.^** ^'"^ '^^ «Pon the Bath^te." '^^ i«''t«i7, "Good n,ominrMr« dcrnancTed"'" ^"^ '"'"'''"' ^"''^ '^>" thao dirtj boota?" Bella '1 came in to aoa ♦!,- tt tie™ and <,;„„, ,„. „ gjf » "/^d dowg, wj.j 8„„, "»«". dirty b«,to, «. "^i"^:^ »»««g.i.g way at Bella who 1 ''■ ®''» ™'W » » '^. relnctantly, ,n,n^ ^"^ ''*^ " '«»»<'. «H «" ~id. '"'°"'"™'^"»««"-^"«,„ebi«„it,-.pan^ PKNNV PLAIN gg let. hiu. k:;.2" iZ'/tL:?"* -^ ^- ^^ — ' "MiM Jean?" «n.ible con. Irint Z"; ^'^^' "„"' '""''■'^f"' wipe 7er feot and g.«'bc„ J2''"**'' *^''r' '^'"'' on wi' ma work." '■~°' "" '" "« 8« the book. pUed „„' ^o^h^ u' T ""S" "o """i"' ^h^MboTt^kT/oVC^-J" J:^- e>^,'o««J> the wood. Up where the lean hound, mftlj go ^ f„j''^;,fV"'^**^«-' blood' '' An «rrow by n.7 chwtnut hair Ah',Ti*!S?J?dr ' °'" ^° ^""•'^ -P— For gome reason best-known to Umself in,^, sparing of bmth when he reputed 3^ T** """^ »««ith last so long that the enHf thf^^' °'*^"* ^°« in a breathless whiC-.-^ thi ^ . ^^"^ ""^ ^'«~*'^^ "So that is what^Ln^. l""*^"^ ^^'^ «ff*^^. "^ell," said Mhor, "come in with me now and ^ PENNY PLAIN I»t on yonr h.tl" "° ''""'* "'"'■''' y«i better wi^i-^ntt'St^' - '- ■;" r-' -' «■ " w". 'he flwed path to theTroft . '/T "^ »"'' "P l"ou« that kept ita l«ok tJ3 ^T "f '^o f'""-? little "d it. eje. lifuH, to^rj^D^'" "• l*"™- neighbour,, into . long ,«,„ w th o„* T^ ""^ * •""'*«' "«■•, «id-.h.p«I window!, thTlil.r't'* f ' ^'"" '» " A girl w„ .ittin'g"! Thj win ,* ^"-1 * '^'^ '""''^«'- wrong r ^«neia. Im wjrry. b anything "Nothing in the least wrom." T«» h*"!. "only that I'mTainl"^'* a '*'"'• '"'"owing W. pouring out W til^bled^KLt^^ PENNY PUIN 4, mcu worse Uian having too litth^but l,o didn't ^ changed or sixuled, and to this d«v »,„ : A ^ ovm old Biddy " ' ^ "^ "'" ^"^^ ^« " the aanie, my »rown e.yo8, hke a trout^tream in Connemara'' tha, b«m^.y Morn,„g," engraved (. ,tl. manyZriZr^ r. Burke, engraver to Uis Sereii,. Hiehmi thn iS-^ i'avia wiijcie — those and man V othprs Ti,« /„ •: old ju.d g<«d, ,„„ kept .nd'wT;„I M^rZ r :<» -'-NV PLAIN "Y'ou know the nnoni., •• it. ono who W« „.,|i^' " ' :• "Of".'. aJ«l' „!/;_, A« Cher Ulk«l P„„ ""'■• ""«" ^' i- "d Atr i.M:''.'::'^' """ •*'■• "" "«' "".i h bmrt, poetry w« « d.V b,L^ '^'*^"" "*" '"^ »<«e door. She h,d t.k.„ . !^ ? " "•"• B«th«to to», Elix,he,h B«ane«.^^'~ *^'°""«'. CUr. MM,. Do •(«; . long time .t Hillricw »n I "''•". "«"^ her. »»•» l«t Bell. B.th(5,,e S" ""•' ™"" '■> "♦"- d.v. »««d to letting her rcZI. „„ I h'T T" ""■'• '^'o '™'' h* w upp„ li very ° ;,,;:.°'r''7,*" ^' •»«' tk" afternoon? 1£„. M'C«h-S " " ~"" '» •" X* "«ter good «onee. I „ouM . J ' ""'■ "^""^ balo, h-t I'm .f,.id there ITltntd"" '° f ^ '" ''"«''■«»■. .P«»el, gratefully .X^ th^ •"T''- '" «" «»"'<'•" •"d M to luncheon sheTi^^r^xf-'i?"."" ♦" ««. ""d «w..ting her with a laJdiZf « '" ?'"'«"« '""I'' be -ed f„n. the night ^ot^^' rt:^"" <-■"' ^-•-1.0 da,, .3 Mis, Bathgate „t for ten n-innte. > at •Of rod no ho ?w te ie PKNNY PLAIN ^ t^Z Z'^t' •'•"''^ ^'^^^ "« when he amall villa like H S ""h Ih t °^,^'"^'''^ '^^^ littlo n>on.,, I found a rel old ,^:!!-^™^"'- -^ My taken into was about the n°cl I Z' " T" ^ ™' would have fulfilled all 1^ I-,- '^"- ^ ^^'"^ it furnishing of a rZ i„^^ ''°'"^'"?°' ^ "" "■« ?">!«>• was quite' a ^r^^' """^ *^' ^ ^'"^ "* '"Ht 44 [I PENNY PLAIN ^^ "Tie Shane of tk. ■, '^•"'y^^OK. to a ,x.u.t like the w''^t'rp''Tr'' ""'""'""«' with a window -seat in ri,„ ) ^', "^ " * window high on « slope aid L*s !r '""' f .^' '"™«' """"^ the river to Uk- hiU, "dT' J7 '"°^ "^"^^^ "^ quie.l/^'\:S'flS;'i^'l^"f^f f ■»«' "d -ying gone to Oxford the da/St .nH ^°*" ^"''^ ''«'' would find it hard work to IW^' ^ ^^ ^"^ ^™'d he amall help she coJdX^Mm Z '^t^^^''^ ''"^ «'» himself ahabby and S jf S^', *''f ^ '"«'" S-'d oot come back to heTu.^ iZT'., '' ?"' '" "'«''* gone away. "" tne kind, cleareyed boy he had -rtSdrifth"Xto'?,tp'^"»'=^"'^- i^-i"'' didn't seem at aU 7mpr^°'t^^'"'f. '" " '""^^' of my fashionably d^S^,^ '^ »''''» "Pl-^nce' «weo7m: \Z:'ZT' ''^„""--'- rather in a friend than S lemv ^il""^'^ ™'ier have me for extraordinarily nasty ihinJ^Z '^'{'^ think of such like. But this little ^riZ,*^""^ "*""' ^^P'^ ^ ^on't older sister or a ki^d wA't^ "^ « if I had been an rather touching ^'^ ^"^'' «»d-well, I found i° »e:erad.trsh: tZ tri "^'l"""^ ^-o -^s . I *• PENNY PLAIN in this cottaRe-ThrRi«7, •„?*', ""' ''"°«'" »P again, suddonl/ and unnrmSirif *^'' ^f;'^" ""^^e^ almost friendlei girl whomT«'i?' ^'^''"M and on IMTC. Jean fffelfT^ '" ^""''"' "''» "«"»' the unwisdom" il^""!, T,"?' °?.*' "''^«°' " Mrs. Jardine hfd s^.Tw /t " '"^ T ""' ^"""e giri of fourteen) I7had":vtt^i7 T,*^"" " *'"»'■ before she sailed wiA wT f ^^"^ ""^ '" ^""Jo" unnsual whe": Ton^ote": S^of 7- 'if'"- .^'*^' young wife who has thousht on jhl f 'f' "*'7 girl stejKiaughters. aTd ll^Lts^'-Zn'" "^i" and unselfish, and was gratefnl TJ^Tt j' ' ™ ^'"^ India, and were h.rHlt i j j , "^ •^"''"'es sailed for oholi. Thl^nn^wfd w ,"1^''™ ^/- '"''^^'^^^ "^ the life and bad littk Tk -^ ?"! '"PP*** *» ''ied when the first year of her wM^ ^ ^"^ *° England-«,d a young soIdiC(^aL TaTn.™ T"™r^''^*'' "member meetfa^ hte aZJ^^? ° °""* "" ^ dancer, crack poloTilaye^ Tt^t?~t'*''."'g. Perfect money, to have h^^Zl. T T"°' "" 'P"« "^ 'aok of y«.«,"Wn';™ug'TauX:a?H r//^^^^^^^ ■""? '^JT P»f girl bi^ke hJr heart and s ip^Tflf^ f ^' behind one littJp Kntr Qi, i, i ^ , ^ '"®» leaving Taunton had „: o':rvS^™r Zff'Y''' ^"P*"^ she bad left instruction -«.' "'"',''''«'' «he was dying Jean to bring Wmrsh!-,,"^ ^^ *° ^"""""J- ^ she had detected ° en in ^i! i '"•''f "*'"<'•' ^ »»PP<«« I PENNY PLAIN „ looking for, therefore trhat'fi ".'"^'T''"*'' "^ ""'i'^: shouldn't wonder if !,„1'?„'^" ""''«' "orld, but I "The Taunton chi d has ofl ■''''""™'- on the Jardine,. bu itiT',. ,h "*' "'' '^'"^'"' "^ "'"» bother. The Mhor/,'; l'™; "."'".™^-.«l little amusement and delicht TT„ • • ' " *•"*"■ great 'ooking, with greatl-ate ISJ""' f^"^"'^ ^■ wonderfuUv set on h,? ho„Mr 1?'.'""' ' '"«'" """' of l.i» own, whieh Jean k«t ;«! 1^? " """" '■''™"'« he may be able to go to a^^ T f'^' 'P*^ "> that enough. go to a good school when he is old •..rL'^r uroUt o^r"' "^ ^^^ •^"''»- -«* luckily) iuat asl~;Gerj Ta''f "''"' (^^"''P' scene. *^ ^ ^ervase Taunton come on the Disruptionf jLn^lafs^ t ' ' •" '""' '«"»« »« «' *« like to ask what hZu^ '^P"«"™ »"« i« that I didn't daut then ? '• "^ y°» appose she made her -"d taught Jean Ir^llitZ'^r^ f ™' ^»'"''l'' of view of her own deatSd T^"""* f"- f-e point had to ask herself, 'How will thi! TT ',° f^' "'^ '''I'd on my death-bed ' EvTrT cro, T '"""^ "^^ ^ ™ obedienee, she was toM ^„,Tr. f' ^"^^ '"■"'l dis- Pillow.' i said^r I ^^ " "'''™ i" her dying Alison musTtr^T.'t^r'i^' *^' ^-^^-^t defend, her hotly^b: tS^Vlri^r ^J IS, I i ii ! . J: f l*i I SI ( PENNY PLAIN admiration for her aged relative, though ahe owned that her death was something of a relief. Unfortunately, most of her income died with her. "I think perhaps it was largely this training that has given Jean her particular flavour. She is the most happy change from the ordinary modem girl. Her manners are delightful— not noisy, but frank and gay like a nice boy's. She neither falls into the Scylla of affection nor the Charybdis of off-handnesa. She has been nowhere and seen very little; books are her world, and she talks of book- people as if they were everyday acquaintances. She adores Dr. Johnson and quotes him continually. ^ *'She has no slightest trace of accent, but she has that Ult in her voice— I have noticed it once or twice before in Soots people— that makes one think of winds over heathery moorlands and ronning water. In appearance ahe is like a wood elf, rather small and brown, very light «nd graceful. She is so beautifully made that there is great satisfaction in looking at her! (If she had all the virtues in the world I could nmer take any interest in a girl who had a large head, or short legs, or thick ankles!) She knows how to dress, too. The little brown frock was just right, and the ribbon that was tied round her hair. I'll tell you what she reminded me of a good deal Komne/s 'Parson's Daughter.' ''What a find for my first day at PriorsfordI *T: went to tea with the Jardines and I never was at a nicer tea-party. We said poems to each other most of the time. Mhor's rendering of Chesterton's 'The Pleas- ant Town of Roundabout' was very fine, but Jock loves best TDon John of Austria.' You would like Jock. He has a very gruff voice and such surprised blue eyes, and is fond of weird interjections like 'Gosh, Maggie!' and 'Earls in the streets of Cork!' He is a determined foe to sentiment. He won't read a book that contains love- PENNY PLAIN 49 mddng or death-b«l8. 'Does anybody marry ?' Docs any- body die?' are h.s first questions about a book, so natunUly hia reading is much restricted. "lunuiy "The Jardines havB the lovable habit of becoming suddenly overpowered with laughter, ciumpled up^^nd help ess You have it, too; I have it; all really n^ce people have It. I have ben refreshing myself wtu.' /Z Menu>rtes since dinner. Do you remember what is saM of Martin Ross? ^The large conventional jeet had t^ small power over her; it waa the trivial absurditv Z inversion of the exrxvfM *h^ n„ki- •. *"o«iru"y, tno above \f^}f\^Ar^v ' the sublimity getting a little fatJl ?'^f^ ^ '^^^ ^^^ it had taken that fllt^^ ^''','^ Wder-thoee were the tilings tha feM her,^ and laid her, wherever she mightX, in ^C^f": ff'^^^^ I °^"«t tell you, remains unthawed. a^l. People dress for dinner every night there she tella to k^r M- ^ I ^^"^ ^"^ "^"'^^ ^i* Priorsford andTt to know Miss Bathgate.--Your8, "S. j3 ^^^^Vl*'" ^'^'^ ^^* ^°^ «>°^e dark reason the Jardines call their cat Sir J. M. Barrie. .wT^^f^ '^^^' ^""t 8^* °^ satisfaction. Well you see, there's Peter,' Mhor said vaguely. Jock looked at the cat and observed obscuX 'It's not a sentimental beast either'-while Jean asM if I would have preferr^ it called Sir Rabindranath T^ e I'^ 1-^ 1 ■« i . fi .»! Il^ii \l CHAPTER V "0, the Undii line, fine, I couW buy it »' for mine, For ma gowd'. m tho Btookn in Strathairlie. " 8eoW Song. Y^HEN Petor Roid arrived at Prioreford Station ^ from London he stood for a few minutes lookinir about him in a lost way, almost as if after thirty years he ^pected to see a "kent face" coming to meet him. He had no notion where to go; he had not written for rooms; ho had simply obeyed the impulse that sent him— the impulse that sends a hurt child to its mother. It is said that an old horse near to death turns towards the pastures where he was foaled. It is true of human beings. Man wanders back to the fields which bred him " After a taJk with a helpful porter he found rooms in a^temperance hotel in the Highgate^a comfortable, quiet a dreary day in his rooms with The Scotsnuin for sole companion. fZl\^^ft^/ ^ t"^^ ""^" °^^' ^«"»d time once or twice to talk for a few minutes, but he had only been ten years in Pnorsford and could tell his guest nothing ot^the people ho had onco known. "D'you know a house called The Rigs?" he asked him. The landlord knew it well— a quaint cottage with a protty garden. Old Miss Alison Jardine wasTing in it when he came first to Priorsford; dead now, but the young folk were still in it "Young folk ?" said Peter Reid. 60 PBNNY PIjviN .„ Nice peopITS? J° Qnieftr '"/"?'""'"'"■• don't ow/tho hoJ«nLgt I hoa. To Z!,?- l'^'"'^- The nert ,uH Pl«*«ai»tly aad noncommittully. ^ffe^ball, and ;;:S^'C"d of U,o mnr over the pebbles and see the flaming"^ reflectel m the bluo water all tho way up TwlS t.ll U,e river took a wide curve before theVernS on which tl,„ eastio stood. A wonderfully prrtTy plaT Pnorsford, ho told himself: a hom^like^K? oS had any one to come home to. ^^ £ tl^ tk" ^i'' ~ ""'«"'» a bride. He had been born there. Though occupied by strangers it wm^ nearest he had to a homa The bo^se in Pri^ e^- 0«" wt Tr^annS .'n,r°^r"'^ T"'"^ -" "'^ ^"^ servants tat only a hooie when all waa said. He felt ^^ ''J"«,'»« "o'l-er had always sat (the other W ««m, the "good room" as it was called, was kept iZ visitors and high days), and lay his tireu Wy on Z horsehair arm^-r by the fireside. He could r«t 5,^ he though,. It was impossible, of course. Thl woXte no horBehair armchair, for everything had been sold- and there was no mother. But, anyway, he would go and look at it There used PENNY PLAIN Thirty years— but The !?.„- not outwardly. Old Mr^ Rdd Ti?^ <^«°*?«I-at least, Great-aunt AJison, a^d J^^^^ ^T'"^ ^^^ garden and W work. "» ™ Jean after hor had curried on The little house looked in.* r^ bered it '"^^^ ^""^ «» Peter Roid romem- He ZS ^li°tJt fardin"^ ^. ^^ ^^'^ '^'--'^• and he n.e«„t to lively S^lf ""Tho''^ ^T ^^ »^ bnt he couldn't help that S!l . ^ '^^"'•^"'^ I'^e it, persuade them to gi aimoet aToT 't.^""'^ ^ «^'« ^ ^orth their whila * """^^^ ^« ^«"ld make it f^^^^TZf.^^^^^^^^ latch of the .ate whc down the flagged rthshj."^ ^^ '^"^li"^ came looked at PcrtSiteS! ^^^^^^^ «' ^« gate ^J '^re you by any chance oomin. in r ^. u ^ ^«» said Mr. Reid- «J «« • '^^ asked. • over the house." ' ^'°^ to ask if I might "Surely," said Jean. 'Tlnf It, are you ?" i«itr-yon re not going to buy asked. °^ *^"^°« '« yourself?" Peter Reid ^ef Ton wouldn't ant ♦!,«* -^ «<• f.»Jt« to tell y„u_St faml *" ^, *" *'■* of aU TH^T went .lowly n^Z 7 '^f '* ■"»'' B°' any." »~J '•«• Theo the aTh^L^"' ""i*^ •■" ""the, «"d. Now theC^aa^ ^ch^" 7' "" ""'"«"- bru. TO7 weU rubbed up a ™l/f 1' S»;*'»'>H "W "™ "R a grandfather clock with a i i ^'\ •♦ PENNY PLAIN "clear" f««, and a polishod floor with a Chinceo rug on It. ^* "It U rather dark," wid Jean, «'but I like it dark. Coming in on a hot suramor day it in almost liko a i)ool: It 18 so cool and dark and polinLcd." Mr. Roid said nothing, au.l Jcuti wan toru between « deeiro to havo her homo approfiated and a d<«iro to have this stranger take an instant dislike to it, and tt. leave It speedily and for ever. **You see," sl,o pointed out, "the littlo staircase is rather stet-p and winding, but it is short; and tho bed- rooms are c5harming~no. very big, but so prettily shaped aiid with lovely views." Then sl.o rememl)ered that she should miscall rather than prai.^e, and added, "Of course they have all got queer ceilings; vou couldn't expect any- thing else in a cottage. Will you go upstairs?" Mr. Reid thought not, and asked if he might see the ♦1,^1™!.^® "^"^ ^'* °*"*^®^ ^^^ ^^'^^y* 8at in, where the hoMehair arm-chair had had its home^ but it, too, had suffered a change. Gone was the arm-chair, gone the round table with the crimson cover. This room had an austerity unknown in the room he remembered. It was amall^ and every inch of space was made the most of. An old Dutch dresser held china and acted as a sideboard; fillT ^v**H^' ^*1°« ^° '^^ ^"^'^ » ^"^ Wue bowl failed with berries and red leaves, stood in the middle of «.I^™: ®'^^* ***'''* completed the furniture. This IS the least nice room in the house," Jean told him but we are never in it except to eat It looks out on the road. "Yes," said Peter Reid, remembering that that was why his mcrther had liked it She oould sit with her knuang and watch the passers-by. She bad always PENNY PLAIN purchawr. She W him in h^ •?""'.'"' P""*"""' £^"7 (, hough «,mc„h«t p^TokiL) ti^ L"" '°"'- •eemed quite unimprwscd ^ ° •tranger ;Tou We «.me g„«l t^rmtnro," ho «iA the vrindow, ..d -nv^r7htjap"'flr jr™ "^ piano! It would .imrti, V ^ irames and a grand first me alone, and tW n -i T'^ '^'^ P-eat-aunt— andMotherwr^-tltwte-ia^lthear ir hardly ever been awar from Th t>- ^^^/^^ve. I have -affectionate «,« o^tSr.^ a^^'A ^''^ ^\^ "'^ absurd thine to »»v ),■■» Pf'I" ">«' " rather an will tell you pLtvTf S,f ??: '",*^''/"'='^«' -»» well, for one AiJ^dTJ The water d.K»n't heat tning, and the ranee e.mply eats up ooal, #! PENNY PLAIN know tbout tb«Mi UiingB." water and pantnoa.'' ITi!*"^ '* "** q««tion of ni^v huvInK it." All the time I vo bct-n showinpr vou the ho„H« IVo boon picturing u« rcnnoving «dl^ to a villa in U.e Lar^gho^ Koad They are qu.u, nice villa, as villas go, hurUi^ have on.^ tinj stri,. of g.r.Ien«, an.l .tai.^ 'that co^e to me«t you as you go in at tl.o front door, and an^-way no honso could cvrr l»o homo to „« aftor The Rig^ni ^ough It had hot and cold water in every roomed a pantry on every floor." ^ anu a ^oar me," said Peter Reid. He felt perplexed, and annoyed with himaelf for beimr perplexed. AH he had to do was to toll this g!rl^^ the frank eyes that The Rig. was his. that he wanted to hvo in It himself, that if they would turn out at onc^ he would make it worth their while. Quite simple rhey were nice people evidently, and would make no fusa. !^T *^\Tii* ''^''-^^ J^«n was speaking. hn„i" T know why yon wanted to see through this house, slie was taying. "I think you must have Svn it J^*^ ^r ^^"^ "^^ * ^^- ^«'^I« yon loved it too— and had to leave it" t-- j ^ fortJn™* ^ ^^^'''' ""^"^ ^ ™ ®'^^*^° *^ °^« »y of T-t'" 'i^ ^^', ""^ '""^ ^** "^^" «^« V^U^n manner of things she could not say. She had been observing her Tisitor, and she was sure that this shabby littl7man (Peter Reid cared not at all for appearances and never thought a new suit of clothes unless compelled) had rcturnoil iu> Whittiiiirton F^.r.l \t , ^ «■"; •;!-.. lm.l tric.1 .nj mi Jl Ld 1.7 "' '^ '"'''• »"<1 timl «n.l ,bM,y ta^\ • ? ."• ""^ '««''. o'J "'"'■i;v ,.„,,i,, „„, j,ri„Vj t ir: *" r" «» c<)ii«<)l,., |,ut ,i^„,, „, ,, . '""*t"a to try to comfort uul She n.ac«„,S„r,.;;^ »'•■'.";".•-« '■«■?""!«..»' "Are vou Muviiu, r I. • ^ ,',.'" '"™ • """hw. "I'm ,t M,o T^f '"«"'<«•'' '" "ho Mkod gonUr -uno .«,. i.cr,^.f...r t^t y!^^! '"'«''<'. re.,, «, I i know Mm." "Ho'8 frightfulljr rich, they say T Hnn'. I thi^ ■ ?)rL''^r''!«r f/^ Jean-".bo„t .uty. When I'm sixt^I ?!'„ t!^ f"' ''"\-'^'y oW ^ J thought I „<. „.., p2r iToia, -Wi, I b„ke pera«co hotol, were .a ht i^ !"""'\^- ^'^ 'en- mud, money. WouW i hi ^P™'"" '''■» yoa hadn't "k him to rtay at The Rt,?"^ "''' '"'^ ™P"'«^ •» "A™ you eo=n/ortahI« at the Temperance r ,he aated. ■ in- . I I ■ 1^ ' H 't PENNY PLAIN "Because if you don't much care for hotels we would love to put you up here. Mhor is apt to be noisv, but 1 m surt' ho would try to be quiet when he kuew that you needed a rest" "My dear young lady," gasped Peter Reid. "I'm afraid you are rash. You know nothing of me. I might be an impostor, a burglar " Jean threw Wk her head and laughed. "Do forgive me, but the thought of you with a jemmy and a dark lantern is so funny." "You don't even know my name." "I don't," said Jean, "but does that matter? Yon wUl tell it me when you want to." ll^y "f,™® ^® ^^^^' *^® ®*™® ^ yo«r landlord." ''Then," said Jean, "are you a relative of his?" 'A connection." It was not what he meant to sav, but he said it. "How odd !" said Jean. She waa trying to remember If she had said anything unbecoming of one relative to another. "Oh, here's Jock and Mhor," aa two figures ran past the windows; "you must stay and have tea with ns, Mr. Reid." "But I ought to be getting back to the hotel. I had no intention of inflicting myself on you in this way." He rose to his feet and looked about fop his hat. "The fact is— I must tell yon — I am " The door burst open and Mhor appeared. He had forgotten to remove his cap, or wipe his muddy boots, 80 eager was he to tell his news. "Jean," he shouted, oblivious in his excitement of the presence of a 8trangei--"Jean, there are six red puddock- stools at the bottom of the garden— bright red puddock- stools." He noticed Mr. Reid and, going up to him and looking earnestly into his face, he repeated, "Six!" "Indeed," said Peter Reid. If V.*.I PENNY PLAIN 59 of "Xhe "iZTmrV '^'r'^ *'■" """-"PPV owner came—" '"'"''' "^ '« """-"l onlj your pa«i„„ for puddoetstook'^ ^™'^'"'^ *"» ' iTou see we have a burn in our garden with a WtfU l?ttr4' :rr re t'- ""' ^""- -^•-■'^^ wrts of fl,iZ=_!^ * if "^ minnows in it and all «ori8 ot things— water-beetles, vou knnm a^a \ my jraddoch-stools." ^ ^ou know. And hBre arii .0^ about a .Wvi.b.d" that Z TZ t^U "^^ "tZ™^*""''^'" *" '"■*' " «''«^ »««™l the room- i -. I m m 'it k ^¥' \,!J^^ f-,« PENNY PLAIN they were so hot and new-baked that the bag burst and they all fell out on tlie road." "Mhor! You horrid little boy." "They're none the worse, Jean. I dusted them all with me useful little hanky, and the road wasn't so very dirty." "All the same," said Jean, "I think we'll leave the cookies to you and Jock. The other things are baked at home, Mr. Reid, and are (piite safe. Mhor, tell Jock tea's in, and wash your hands." So Peter Reid found himself, like Balaam, remaining to bless. ^Vfter all, why should he turn these people out of their home? A few years (with care) was all the length of days promised to him, and it mattered little where he spent them. Indeed, so little profitable did leisure seem to him that he cared little when the end came. Mhor and his delight over a bum of his own, and a garden that grew red puddock-stools, had made up his mind for him. He would never be the angel with the flaming sword who turned Mhor out of paradise. He had not known that a boy could be such a pleasant per- son. He had avoided children as he had avoided women, and now he found himself seated, the centre of interest, at a family tea-table, with Jean, anxiously making tea to his liking, while Mhor (with a well-soaped, shining face, but a high-water mark of dirt where the sponge had not reached) sat close beside him, and Jock, the big school- boy, shyly handed him scones, and Peter walked among the feet of the company, waiting for what he could get. Peter Reid quite shone through the meal. He re- membered episodes of his boyhood, forgotten for forty years, and told them to Jock and Mhor, who listened with most gratifying interest. He questioned Jock about Priorsford Grammar School and recalled stories of the masters who had taught there in his day. Jean told him about David goiner to Oxford, and going about m PENNY PLAIN ^ mother, and he b«^ ! "" "! ^'"''*' '"d «b«ut h« were received wllhJ^.* 1 ^ 'T" ™»" M« which who were ;fj^fj^:;f^-j7Joek a.d Mho, to be fanny. They would havetaidlhh T^Tf *'*'''y' HotSirSbS* 'S?^ «her difficnU guest •he told him "If vm, ., J r '°°'""« ■*««>• already," -nd Mrs. WcJZlX rT/"' " ""*'' "■«> -^d Hhor didn't maLt'tuT:^;^' Cf "« "^ "«^ feel quite well again An^It T ■■* y°" """W pa, hotel bills wferwet'l';o'rhe:7 ""* " '"'^ *» ment to him? tL?]^1 u J^f ^"^^ ^^"« «f ^7 mo- .nd reoaii^j \^':^:it^jz ::^ » '""'- take was not unjustifiable ^* ^®'' °^ 4r^;rrt;^iix'j''»-''»etti-tm.te. could understand «, J „„ ^^"'* ""^ Powerful he opens wide dot'to^thVZTbtld'S! *" ™""°* *^'" not one that he knew a^«hiL^i^' "nsueeessful was notaninstinetforthisworYd^hett It ^ "'^'""^ in C PaSl^^^r''^ •" ^- ^'«-'' «»»««1 you haven't been to see me tX^ ^""- ^"' -d^r^^'^^S" ^- --ed her, <« '• • Jock and Mhor and Mr.. M'Cosh are all at her feet. She bring, ua booka and paper, and chocolate, and fruit, and ^ "^K • '"' *r« «>"f«rring the favour by acc^ting them, hho .. a real charmer, for when aho imZ. to you .he make, you feed that no one matter, to her but juat you yourself. And aho i. su„ple (or at lea^ appear! to te);ahe hadn't that Now-^am-going.t^bcM.ha^„inT^ ntr t^.at .a ao difficult to bear. It i« .uch fun talkinir to Ac^'nfir r ^^^^^-P'''^»''« I t»>-^ i- the word I ^^nt Aocurtomed to converao with people who conitantlj wUl one up abort with an ♦Ah, now I'don't agree,' or ^h^ to H^ Tk"^ ^"'^ ^"°^'' '' ^ ^on'l^rfully aoothin^ to d acus. thing, with aomeone who haa the air of beinf im afraid I agree with Mra. M'Coah, who deacrib^ » fnend « 'a rale nice buddy. She clinLTwr t^*::'ord "I am thinking to myaelf how Great-aunt Aliaon would have dreaded Pamela'a influence; She would Tave^ LZni^:'f''''vi ^'^ ^^'»^' ^« ^^' ^ W iT 7^ ^* *^ ^''"'^ ^''^^ *^ °»»»^ impreaa^d by her long deacent: dear Aunt Aliaon. ^^^ ^ "All the some, Darie, it ia odd what an effect one'. ~r^ beaming haa^ D'you remember how diacourag^ l*.-A. AJiaon waa about our levity— eapeciallv min«? 5^ on«^d bitterly that I wa. lik'e thelJl wlTrLw -teoiu* I laughed in the middle of the Bible W And how ant.q„..ed «.d .tuffy we thought her ^^^S W„5T ",«»»"''8 o"™'"" that we had goi f„ bvond them, and you apent an evening tea-lea, SjZ 1 * PENNY PUIN 71 th.a . D,«.i^,on Worthy-do you remember th.tf ^« w »>"t 0««t-«unt Ali«n had buiia«l botr.r than |Ao knew. When I'amola laugh. 'How Biblical' or «iv. m her pretty, .oft .oic. U.at our ^t-aunf. roligiun tnff.r and fw'i I mu.t .t.ck unswervingly to the anti ■ ,ted IT T , \ ^'""^ P^*" «''^afc-«"nt i.n't her,. - .M,ka mo* I don't know. "Mhor i. really .urpridngly naughty. Tc. *f j..> I i'^L*r^ '*''\''- ^''"* '*'" ^^^"*^' «"'» ^'''*«' ' '^-^ 'i^* r •auntering ,n, on h.s face the «.raphic oxpn.. i,>. ,.e *<*.« when ^n,e nefarious iK^-hemo ha« proH,!or ! an.l '. ..in hand the braaa breakfast k.ntle. Ho had Uu • - ; water on the paH.er8-by from the top of the wuIJ. m mIv" ho expla.oed to me, 'on the men who wore ha 1 l. -li fiats, who could swear.' eouL^nfM!'"* .^"^ ^^'"^ ''""'^ ^'""^"^^y ^»«»' "» i'* t^** ^^[J! ^! iftemoon, and pointed out to him how a... gentleman-hko was his behaviour, and he said he was Sne^sl " '^'"'' '^ "^^^ ^" ^"^ '' -- o*^- J'^^*** 'wJ''' ''"".^^ ^°^'°« ^« *»««»'* l>een told not to do, but how could I foresee that he would want to ^^r water on men with hard black hats, capable of swear- "I had almost forgotten to teD you, an old man eame yesterday and wanted to see over the honsa You can imagine what a scare I got-I made sure he wanted to buy It; but It turned out that he had lived at The Rig. m \^/' ?!, 1 "^^^ ^''^^ ^^'^ ""^^ «*^«'» «^^ He looked III and raAer shabby, and I don't believe life had been but ho was difficult He was staying at the Temperane^ and it aeemed so forlorn that he should have no one ^ : n :'MV'Tii^'::*jKt^.i i r ■♦• ■f; 1 PENNY PLAIN 7t hi. own to oome home to He didn't look as if anybodT h.d erer made a /u» of-him. I adced him to staj with M for a week, but he wouldn't I think ho thouirht I ~ rather mad to aak him, and Pamela laughed at me aDout It . . . She laughs at me a good deal and calls me a 'aentimentalist.' ... "There is the luncheon belL "We are longing for your letter to-morrow to hear how you are settling down. Mrs. M'Cosh has baked some short, brcjid for you, which I shall post this afternoon. Lo-e from each of ua, and Peter.— Your '■^-*f?i'i «i I m '. .' 1L OHAPTEB Vn "I» tU> * inirld to bide TirtuM taf" TiMl/ll, Httkt, yOP should never war . d,ort .triDg of beads wheo "Well see for yourwlf. I «„ wearing bii? round ear- n»g^r,ght I put on the bead, tto ma^^X wrong. It's a question of line." ""KJn— quite "You don't learn them. You either know them or you don't A sort of instinct for dress, I suppoi^' Jean was sitting in Pamela's bedrZ. pSI's bed- room .t was now eertainly not Bella Bathgate's, whlh' ™"^"* '""ijj-K^''" h'-i l«en re^Jaeed by on, ^d drLed.-' "'"""'""'"'• """''• "o '""^ P"« P- A oloth of fine Knen and laee coTered the tniW t.M^ 'Most of mj things are at the bank," Pamela was sar mg as she held ud a naii- «^ c^ • l "^^*» »»«» »/- rows of pearhL "^Thi n^""''^ ^^""^8 made of oi pearls. Thej generally are there, for I doi't 73 I fill '''* PENNY PLAIN care a bit about ordinary jewela. Theee are what I like --odd things, old things, things picked up in odd comers of the world, things that have a story and a meaning. Biddy got mo these turquoises in Tibet: that is a deWl charm: isn't that jade delicious? I think I like Chinese things best of all." She threw a string of cloudy amber round Jean's neck and cned, *My dear, how it becomes you. It brings out all the golden lights in your hair and eyes." Jean sat forward in her chair and looked at her reflection in the glass with a pleased smila "I do like dressing-up," she confessed. "Pretty things are a j^t temptation to me. I'm afraid if I had money 1 would spend a lot in adorning my vile body " "I simply don't know," said Pamela, "how people who don t care for clothes get through their lives. Clothes are a joy to the prosperous, a solace to the unhappy, and an interest alway»-^ven to old age. I knew a dear old lady of ninety-four whose chief diversion was to buy a new bonnet. She would sit before the mirror discarding model after model because they were 'too old' for her. One W -four '^'"'^^* '* '*'®''"^* ^"^ ^""^ anything too old for Jean laughed, but shook her head. "Doesn't it seem to you rather awful to care about bonnets at ninety-four?" "Not a bit," said Pamela. She was powdering her faee as she spoke. "I like to see old people holdi^ on, not losing intereet in their appearance, making a brave show to the end Did you never see any one use sTpH^^ ' ^''"' ^^ '"^ ^^ S^"^ ^^k ^ «T '?^' ^^^ yo^r pardon," said Jean, in great confusion, I didn t mean to stare " She hastily averted he^ eyes. m 75 PENNY PLAIN Pamela looked at her with an amusef' mila "There's nothing activelj immoral aboot powderini? ones nose, you know, Jean. Did Greaf^unt Alison tell you It was wrong?'* "Great-aunt Alison never talked about such thimre." Jean said, flushing hotly. "I don't think it's wrong^t 1 don t seo that it's an improvement. I couldn't take any pleasure in myself if my face were made up." "Pamela swung round on her chair and laid her hands on Jeans shoulders. "Jean," she said, "you're within an ace of being a prie. It 8 on 7 the freckles on your little unpowdored noso, and the yel!,)w lights in your eyes, and the way your hair cur s up at the ends ^hat save you. Remember, please, that threeand-twenty with a perfect complexion has no call to reprove her elders. Just wait till you come to forty years." "Oh,- said Jean, "it's absurd of you to talk like that. As If you didnt know that you are infinitely more attractive than any young girl. I never know why people talk so much about i^outh. What does being young matter If you re awkward and dull and shy as well ? I'd far rather ne middle-aged and interesting. "That," said Pamela, as she laid hor treasures back m the box IS one of the minor tragedies of life. One begins by being bored with being young, and as we begin to realise what an asset youth is, it flies. Rejoice in your youth, little Jean-girl, for it's a stuif will net endure. . . . ^p w'" ^' ""'''^"- ^*'' "^ ^^^ '^ ^« ^«^p-g y-^ smlZ nTe.'^" ^"^^ ''^^ ^^^°^'" ^'' "^^^ "I* ''It is slightly less forbidding. I am quit« attached W« "^l 'T'' *^^"^^ ""^"^ ^«^««" ^^ I are both here together I sometimes feel I must poke my arms out if. yi'-' 76 PENNY PLAIN of the window or thrust my head up the chimney like BUI the Lixard, in order to get room. It is a great dit- artvantage to be too large for one's surroundings." The parlour was as much changed as the bedroom. The round table with the red-and-green cover that fiUed op the middle of the room had been banished and a small card-table stood against the wall ready to be brought out for meals A Persian carpet covered the linoleum and two wmfortable wicker-chairs filled with cushions stood by the fireside The sideboard had been converted into a stand for books and flowers. The blue vases had gone from the mantelshelf and two tall candlesticks and a strip of ombroideiy took their place. A writing-table stood in the window from which the hard muslin curtains hpd been removed; there were flowers wherever a place could be found for them, and new books and papers lay about Jean sank into a chair with a book, but Pamela pro- duced some visiting-cards and read aloud : Trb TowBts, PSIOBSIOBO. "MRS. DTTFF-WHALLEY MISS DUFF-WHALLEY. 'mo are they, please? and why (io they come to see me? Jean shut her book, but kept her finger in as if hoping to get back to it soon, and smiled broadly «ci!^r* ^"ff-^a"ey is a wonderful woman," she said, hhe knows everything about everybody and simply scents out social opportunities. Your same would draw her like a magnet" "Why is she called Duff-Whalley? and where does she live? Im frightfully intrigued." "As to the first," said Jean, "there was no thought of pleasing either you or me whbu she was chriatened-or n V PENNY PLAIN ^. MthM- when the late Mr. Duff-WhalW wa. ohri.to.ed thltiT'"'^'-. ^ "*""« redandwhite houw with about itdL^r' "' '"'' '"'-'^ '""«'"• I' '''>fi'«^e tte mo.t naked newest thing you ever ,aw. Kot a cLZ tohave no effect on ,t: ,t never gets to look any le« new. And ,n summer it i, worse, for then round atoutit and the b uest lobehas that ifs possible to imagine.' '•Ghastly I What i. the owner like?" ^ bmall, with yellowish hair turning grer ^e h« . diarp nose, and her eye. seem to da« S,T.t yTu^ke W '"i "f ^° '•»'' ""'y- She is rathri'ike . 1 m never a b,t sure she won't bite. She reallv i. rather a wonderful woman. She hasn't heThwe very many years, but she dominates everyon... At Xtl^r house you meet her she has the air of being h-Lr^ She weleomes you and advises you where to sit, make, suitable aitemoon, that was due to the real hostess. Sli« ;. ;„ rriorsford, but she always gets her own way. At a meeting we are to do It s no good saying we are busy ; it's no iraod pre.id.ng at a meeting I toy with the thought that wme Jf id' r n it '• PENNY PLAIN ^Ted «m,eth,ng .t her, «d wUh I iSd been thereto Really, though, .he i, rather . ble.,u.g ui the Tce^ Zl keeps n. from «.g„.,i„„. j ,^j «,„*ewhe^ th.r;h« they Uwgumk, of cod to thi, country {^mZ^Z^ cod .b^„„d, they put , c.,-fi,h in heafdo th"m .Ju chMee the cod round all the time, «> that the^ .rri™ fa good condition. Mra. Duff-VVh.IIe; i, our cat-M, "™ " JIaee. Haa she children ?" E^rt^r?!. ^ ^"'■K'"'"-. "wrried in London-Mri n..ff m. i> ,^' . ' "'"''' " """»' •» very had for the Ih,frWhdIoy, hv,ng i„ ™ch a vulgar, Ll^Zi^ Pamela laughed. "Bo y„„ think all the little pepner. r t tower, must have an effect on the soul? I do^^C the »d''Li;;'"!/'"'' ',' *'■■* "'<'«' -i" •» «P«ted at thmiirh* «* «lLi Y P, '^^- ^* ^'^ays worries me, the thought of people whr live in the dark places of bi^ cit^ timllTi r *^; '""• '' ''"^ d'^ad^^l that aom^ times I feel I must go and htjin " "What could you do ?" "That's what common sense always aaka T ^„u a nothing alone hnf ,*f oil ♦!, f "-^^ **'^- -^ «>uia do bardJ itt^ld"! a' i^tnoT"' ^S tl"l ^f of the cruelty in the world tlT maice; mi's ct" W hardest thmg for me to keep from being happy Grit! annfil^on said T had a light nature. EvL wE I ought W Id fL r ^"T "P " *^' ■"<»* unreasoS way and I am happy. But sometimes it feels as if we M really a groat guaking morass, and underneath there it PENNY T»LAIN 79 black slime full of unimagined horrors. A paragraph in the newspaper makes a crack and you see down : women who take money for keeping little babies and allow them to die, men who torture: tales of horror and terror. The War made a tremendous crack. It seemed then a« if we were all to be drawn into the slime, as if cruelty had got Its fangs into tlio heart of the world. When you knelt to pray at nights you could only cry and cry. The courage of the men who grappled in the slime with the horrors was the one thing that kept jne from despair. And the fact that they could laugh. You know almt the dying man who told his nurse some joke and finished, 'This is the War for laughs.' " Pamela nodded. "It hardly bears thinking of yetr-the War and the fighters. Later on it will become the greatest of all sagas. But I want to hear about Priorsford people. That 8 a clean, cheerful subject. Who lives in the prottt house with the long ivy-covered front?" "The Knowe it is called. The Jowetts live there- retired Anglo-Indians. Mr. Jewett is a funny, kind little man with a red face and rather a nautical air. He is so busy that often it is afternoon before he reads his morn- ing's letters." "What does he do?" "I don't think he does anything much: taps the baro- meter, advises the gardener, fusses with fowls, potters in the garden, teaches the dog tricks. It makes him happy to feel himself rushed, and to go carrying unopened letters at tea-time. They have no children. Mrs. Jewett is a dear. tshe collects servants as other people collect prints or old china or Sheffield plate. They are her hobby, and sho has the most wonderful knack of managing them. Even now, when good servants seem to have become extinct, and people who need five of six are grubbing away miserably with one anj a charwoman, she has four pearls 80 PENNY PLAIN li ^ Ui i Tl t* - with aoft voices and gcnU« wa^s, expert* at their jol^ bho thinkB about them aU the time, and oonsidera their oorafort, and drcsHos thorn in palo grey with the daintiest spotted muulin aproiuj and mob cape. It is a pleasure to go to tho Jowetts fur a moal, everything is so perfect. Ibe onJy drawback is if any ouo makes tho sligbu^t mark on tho cl..th ouo of tbo silver-grey maids brings a saucer of water and wipes it off, and it is apt to make one nervous. 1 shall never forgot going there to a children's party with David and Jock. Great-aunt Alison warned us most solemnly before we left homo about marking the cloth, so we went rather tremblingly. There was a splendid tea in the dining-room, with silver candlesticks and pink shades and lovely china, and a glittering cloth, and heaps of good things to eat-grown-up things like sandwiches and rich cakes, such as we hardly ever saw. Jock was quite small and loved his food even more than he does now, dear lamb. A maid handed round the egg-shell china— If only they had given us mugs— and as slie was putting down Jock's cup ho turned round suddenly and his elbow simply shot it out of her hand, and sent it flying across the table. As it went it spattered everything with weak tea and then smashed itself against one of tho candlesticks. 1 wished at that moment tliat the world would come to an end. There seemed no other way of clearing up the meas. I was so ashame*!, and so sorry for my poor Jock, 1 couldn t lift my eyes, but Mr. Jowett rose to the occasion and earned my affection and unending gratitude. He pro- tended to find it a very funny episode, and made so many jokes about it that stiffness vanished from the party and we all became riotously happy. And Mrs. Jowett, whose heart must have been wrung to see the beautiful table ruined at the outset, so mastered her emotion as to be able to smile and say no harm had been dona . . . Yon must go with me and see Mrs. Jowett, only don't tell her VI Zi.>. Ti'* PENNY PLAIN Anythixig in the very least sad : ahe 81 weepa at the alightOHt J proTocation." i "Tell me more," gaid Pamela— "tell me about all tho people who live in thoao houaen on tho hill. It'a liko reading a nice Cranfordy book." "But," Jean objectwl, "wo'ro not in tho least like people in a book. I often wonder why Priorsford is so tmlike a •tory-book little town. Wo'ro not nearly interested enough in each other for one tiling. Wo don't gowip U) excels. Everyone goee his or her own wuy. In books people do things or are suspected of doing things, and are imme- diately cut by a feverishly interested neighbourhood. I can't imagine that happening in Prioraford. Nc one ever does anything very striking, but if they did I'm sure they wouldn't be ostracised. Nobody would care much, except perhaps Mrs. Hope, and she would only be amuaod." "Mrs. Hope?" "Have you noticed a whitewashed house standing among irees about half a mile down Tweed from the bridge? That is Hopetoun, and Mrs. Hope and her daughter live there." "Nice?" Jean nodded her head liko a wise mandarin. "You must meet Mrs. Hope. To describe her is far beyond my >» powers. "I see. Well, go on with the houses on the hill. Who lives in the one at the corner with the well-kept garden T "The Preatons. Mr. Preston is a lawyer, but he isn't much like a lawyer in appearance — not yellow and parch- menty, you know. He's a good shot and an ardent fisher, what Sir Walter would have called 'a just leevin' man for a country writer.' There &ie several daughters, all musical, and it is a very hospitable, cheerful house. Next the Prestons live the Williamsons. Ordinary nice people. There is really nothing to say abo'it them. . . . The house umm •• PENNY PLAIN •fter that i. Wooddda, the home of the two Uiu Spwri. They are not ordinary. Mi« Althea u a .piritualil'^Si jao. T».on. and .penda much of her tinTe with apooU Mil. Clarice .« a Buddhist, Their father, when he IWe? thov 1 f. Tk T v^n^ **!• ''""«*'^" '^^^^ When he died is ri ^"^ V- ?r'*' '"'* ^"°« Epi«K,paJian«, th« M.sa Clarico found that nh. couldn't believe in vici^rioM .«cr.fic„ and went over to liudahi«n. She took me into her bedroom once. There was a thick yellow carpet, and a bed with a tapestry cover, and almost no f^ ture except-,. ,t impious to call Buddha furniture ^la^ 8e«ned to me horribly unfrosh. Both ladies provide much tZir a^U,^"^^' ^ *^^ ^"""^^^^^ ^i^ their clothe, and v^l^n^"'*'' ^^ ^^'"' '^P*''" ^»^ P"°«I*- "Foolish ihZT *? ^"""^.-'d' » Craigton," went on J«ui, 'W there live three .pin.ter,^tl,e very bent brand of .p nater. -^e Duncan.. Mi„ Mary, Mi„ J.net, ^a Mi„ S" Idon t know what Priorrford wonld do without theae good women. Spinatera they are, but they ai» aUo real Benign M.a, Mary is the hou«keeper-and such a houa^ keeporl Mi„ Janet i. the publiVoTe, ,ite on aJ^X ^n,m,t^ Mi„ Phcmie doee the flowe;. and lb™ d^ bcaufful things and .a like a tea-C08y, «> soft and warn and «,n,fortabIa Somehow they alwi^, seem t^t The™ when you want them. Ton never go t„ th.rir door and Z adusty a^wer. There is the same welcome for eveJyoS^ g™ le and aimple, and always the bri^t fire, and the ^rL • 3'*°?ri*<* "'"" thick eream and e^ of the richest and freshest You know how kZ people beg you to visit them, and when you go thTy !Z ^E^vy^j--!: PENNY PLAIN §§ ^ J^! ^^'^ ^'^* "»** yo« '•^ unearaeotod and iwkwtrdl The Dunctm make you feel lo pleu«l with yourjelf. Thej are so untelfithly intemted in other people • oonoenw; and they are grand laughora. £f<» the dullert warm to wmething approaching wit when lur- ronnded by that appreciative aadicnce of threa Thoy don't Ulk much themMlvoa, but they have made of !i;teninff a fine art " "Jean." Mid Pamela, "dc you actually mean to tell mo that everybody in Priorsford i» nice? Or are you merely being charitable? I don't know anything duller than your chariuble person who alwavs sayii the kind thing/' ' '' Jean lauded. *'I'm sorry, but Pm afraid the Priors- ford people are all more or less nice. At least they seem so to me, but perhaps I'm not very di«criminating. You wi 1 tell me what you think of them when you meet them All these people I've been telling you about are rich people in a large way,' as Priorsford calU it They hare aU large motor-cars and hot houses and rich thim^ like that Mrs. M'Cosh says Priorsford is a 'real toneTy wee place,' and we do fancy ourselves a good deal. It's a community largely made up of women and middle-aged retired men. You see, there is nothing for the young men to do ; we haven't ev^n mills like so many of the Tweedaide towns. '^ill people call on me?" Pamela asked. "Is Priore- lord sociable?" Jean pursed up her mouth in an effort to look worldly wisa I think you will find it sociable, but if you had oome here obscure and unknown, your existence would °T ^1}^ ^^^ °^' ^®° '^ ^«" had t'^en a house and settled down. Priorsford hardly looks over its shoulder ai a newcomer. Some of the 'little' people might <^ and ask you to t«a— the kind 'little' people-but—" ih III •irf-y-r MICROCOPY RESOIUTION TiST CHART (ANSI and ISO TEST CHART No. 2) Li 12.8 |2^ 130 ■^^ Rib Li 140 12.2 2.0 1.8 ^ >1PPLIED IIVMGE I6S3 East Moin Street Rochester, IMe» York 14609 uSA (716) 482 -0300 - Phone (716) 288 - 5989 - Fa» 84 PENNY PLAIN **Who do you call tlio 'little' people?" "All the people who aren't 'in a large way,' all th« dwellers in the snug little villa*— most of Priorsford, in fact.'' Jean got up to go. ''Dear me, look at Uie time! Ihe boys will bo home from school May I have Uie book you spoke of? Priorsford would bo enraged if it heard me calmly discussing its faults and foibles." She laughed softly. "Lewis Elliot says Priorsford is made up of three classesr— the dull, the daft, and tlie devout" Pamela, looking for the book she wanted to lend to Jean, stopped and stood still as if arrested by the nama "Lewis Elliot!" I'Yee, of Laverlaw. D'you know him, by any chance?" I used to know a Lewis Elliot who had some con- nection with Priorsford, but I thought he had left it years ago." "Our Lewis Elliot inherited Laverlaw rather unexpect- ally some years ago. Before that he was quite poor. Perhaps that is what makes him so understanding. He is a sort of distant cousin of ours. Great-aunt Alison was his aunt too— at least, he called her aunt. It will be fun if he turns out to be the man you used to know." "Yes," said Pamela. "Here is the book, Jean. It's been so nice having you this afternoon. No, dear, I won't go back with you to tea. I'm going to write letters. Good- bye. My love to the boys." But Pamela wrote no letters that evening. She sat with a book on her knee and looked into the fire; some- times she sighed. I, CHAPTER vni "I h»Te, as yoa know, a general prejudice against all peraonr, who do not fDcceed in the world. ' ' — Jowett or Baluol. MRS. DTJFF-WHALLEY was giving a dinner-party. This was no uncommon occurrence, for she loved to entertain. It gave her real pleasure to provide a good meal and to see her guosta enjoy it "Besides," as she aftan said, "what's the nse of having everything solid for the table, and a fine house and a cook at sixty pounds a year, if nobody's any the wiser ?" It will be seen from this remark that Mra. Duff-Whalley had ^ot always been in a position to give dinner-parties ; indeed, Mra. Hope, that terror to the newly risen, who traced everyone back to their first rude beginnings (gen- erally "a wee shop"), had it that the late Mr. D.iff- Whalley had begun life as a "Johnnie-a'-things" in T^ith, and that his wife had been his landlady's daughter. But the ^'wee shop" was in the dim past, if, indeed, it had ever existed except in Mrs. Hope's wicked, wise old head, and for many years Mrs. Duff-Whalley had ruffled it in a world that asked no questions about the origin of money so o' , iously there. Most people are weak when they come in contact with a really strong-willed woman. No one liked Mrs. DuflF- Whalley, but few, if any, withstood her advances. It was easier to give in and be on calling and dining terms than to repulse a woman who never noticed a snub, and who would never admit the possibility that she might not be wanted. So Mrs. Duff-Whalley could boast with some degree of truth that she knew "everybody," and enter- 86 ■I » m I ih I s ^ I ,'1 .-•■■> •• PENNY PLAIN t.inod .t The Tower, "very nearly .h„ highest m the . Jv ■^'-■'"■^P'"^-;: I ^^i'" of was not ono of her more Th.?;^'!^/,^" '''"rV "" P-'y local affair." Jna. 18 to say, the people who wuro to erace the feast were culled from Ihc bi.' vill.s m, ,hn H:pi i "county." ' "'"' "'o™ "ot Mrs. Dulf-Whallcy was an excellent manacer and left no,l,„,K to chance. She .,aw to all the deal's Tersdf Dressed and ready quite half an hour before the ttot fixed for dinner, she had cast her eagle Rlanee over the Hjuner-tablo. and now sailed into theTa^^ r^^ To 1 that tho fire was at its best, the chairs eoSfortablv dT posod, and everything as it should be. Certainh^ no o^ eould have found fault with tho comfort of the Lm thU evenmg. A hugo fire biased in the most approvTa yfe vaL of h '1 '7;'T I"^"'^ Everpvhere stood rasee of heavy-.,cented hothouse flowers. Mrs Duff The whole room glittered, and its mistrew glittered mlo the room, and looked her earefnlly np Ld dt^ She was a pretty girl dreesed in the ex^eme of f aS" and nnder each arm she carried a tiny barking doe ' Munel wBa a good daughter to her motW, fnd an exempla,7 character in eveiy way, but the odd ii™ that few people liked her. Thia waa tie more tr^cT PENNY PLAIN m It waa the desire of her heart to be popular. Her appear- ance was attractive, and strangers usually began acquaint- ance with enthusiasm, but the attraction rarely survived the first iiour's talk. She was like a very well^roloured and delightful-looking apple that is without flavour. She was never natural— always aping someone. Her ev>- thusiasms did not ring true, hrr interest waa obviously feigned, and she had Uiat most dostroving of social faulti she could not listen with patience, but let her attention wander to the conversation of her neighbours. It seemed as If she could never talk at peace with anyone for fear of ^missing something more interesting in another quarter. You look very nice, Muriel ! Fm glad I told you to put on that dress, and that new way of doing .-your hair 18 very becoming." One lo^'able thing about Mrs. DufF- Whalley was the way she sincerely and openly admired everything that was hers. "Xow, soe and do your best to maJce the evening go. Mr. Elliot takes a lot of amusing, and the Jowetts aren't very lively either." I'ls that all that's coming?" Miiriel asked. "I asked the new Episcopalian parson— what's his name ?— yes— Jackson— to fill up." ^'You don't often descend to the clergy, mother." ''No, but Episcopalians are slightly better fitted for society than Presbyterians, and this young man seems quite a gentleman— such a blessing, too, when they haven't got wives. Dear, dear, I told Dickie not to send in any more of that plant— what d'you call it?" (It was a peculiarity of Mrs. Duff-Whalley that she never could remember the names of any but the simplest flowers.) "I don't like its perfume. What was I saying? Of course, 1 only got up this dinner on the spur of the moment, so to speak, when I met Mr. Elliot in the Highgate. He comes and goes so much you never know when he's at Laverlaw; if you write or telephone he's alwavs got it ** PENNY PIJIIN r/u'ii'^i^'rc':^^:',,^:,' -" ?'» '- - '- "Perhap, U„ didn't ^nt ,0" o™,' "M^';' '""''*"" "And did ifir„ ?,<, '"'"" ''"«' 'R"™' h" f>ca ^^^^1 d,d .t lovo .t» own mu„™^, then, darling snub-n^ Her mother scouted tlio idea in the Ieast*^nial but L ; !f- I "'"'" '»-^' •■« '^'t ^hefited wX;t ^e":;^-^ ^d Isl^ ff 1?^' chance they wanted to apII ihc. ^i ''^^ "*•''' «ndLl;r"" ™'?' ™^'"^ I """""'t hreak him off It oM:,7e;rus'rhrd°' "-^ 'f ^ ^"»' "™' to play wi'.' " *"^' "■ ^-^ '»P» •"<) our Ings "It i„,t'""'~^ '"'"''" '""^ *f"- nuff-Whallev hastily t. ±16 was a very amusing man, your father, very brf^, PENNY PLAIN gf to liTo with, though ho w.» .,« fon,l of tow Scote «n~. Jion. for my t.,.0; and ho u,oM o.t choe^TTo hU*^^ It kept u. down, j^u ku„„. IVo ri«n . lot in tho w„^ «nco jour father loft u., though I n.i« him, of ™ur.^ Ho used to laURl, at Minnie', ideas. It wa. Mi„Z ^ us to send Gordon ,0 an Knglish ™h«,l .n7 h™ o c^ Wh at the hyphen, and Moro the sorvant. too You done She 1 1'^"'"' "'"' '°"™"' '"•»' '^"'K» «'«>"M 1* done, bhe had a ways asaurance, had Minnie. The way hotels! And then sho married Kgerton-Thomaon But you re bcttor-loolting, Muriel" -nomaon. But Muriel brushed aside the subject of her looks. What made you settle in l^riorsford ?" sho asked. Well, we came out first to stay at the Hydro— vou WT^ ■" -kool U,en-and you"; father tl'k T^'^ always had a thought of buying a place. But there was Suu'tTll ri r 'f^ r ^''' "'""Si't it wouldXZ dull to be right out m the country at the end of a lone y™TX rrSid'^T "" '"""'^ '""^' -^ '^- your latner said. Build a house to suit ouraclyes in Priora- ford, and wej have shops and a station and evei^tMne ScT™ "m '" r *" '"'™ ^ '"'»- •' like alyd°^ pathic as possible, and to call it The Towers. 'A fine H red house, A^e,' he often aaid to me, 'with plLjTf bow-windows and turreta and a hothouse off the draw^nl room and a sweep of gravel in front and a lot of geranii^ ^d those yellow flowers-what d'you call 'em?iln73 lawns, and a flower garden and a kitchen garden aS^a garage and what more dVou want?' Wellfwell, ho got myself that having nothing to do but take his meals killed 90 PENNY PLAIN wi Mr.. Jowott walked very .lowly .nd delicately and «pected that ,n their long walk together through life Mr Jowctt would have got accustomed to hi, wif^ txt o^n'T""'- '""S""^" '"'"'^' -""^ -" h: .„f.' ""^ ' f ''.^'"oW-W woman with »ft, white hair «.d a p.nk^d-„hite c„raple«on-,he aort of wom^ one ^Tt 'k"?'",''' "'"' "''' ^"'- I- her youth it w« Jd 11 Vis "''^ "■" '■"P' «■"' ™« f«'t that ^e We ^weet melody" would have well become her She w^ d^m pale .hade, of mauve, and had a finely finiZ Jowetts liver, and made his temper fiery but hi. hZl "«..ned the «,und, childlike thi^ i? hfd a la™ ^ stfprt^ui-r^rh?^--^^^^ h.^'L?!^u' *}^ Episcopalian clergyman, followed hard behmd the Jowetts, and wa. imm^tely »~!^ m «. argument with Mr. Jowett a. to wSetherTf^ Ittd tcotre^"^"^' " "« "-"'«' '" "- •^'■^ *iiuri™'r'" ^' f'"««i-"""*''y "'»'«"<"»' You wiu drive the people from the ohni«h, air." PENNY PLAIN fi Then Mr. Elliot arrived, Mra. Duff-WhaUey meted him impi-cjMivelj, and dinner waa announced. LtmiB Elliot waa a man of fortj-fivo, tall and thin and inclined to stoop. He had shortsighted blue eyes and a ah.v, kind smile. He was not a sociable man, and resented being dragged from his books to attend a dinnerparty. Like moHt people ho was quito incapable of gayinir No to Mrs. Duff-Whalloy when that la.ly desi,^ an^^swer in the affirmative, but he had cond. inned himself roundly to himself as a fool as ho drove down the glen from Laverlaw. ° Mrs. Duff-Whalley always gave a long and pretentious meal, and existed everyone to pay for their invitation by being excessively bright and chatty. It was not in the power of the present guests to be either the on^ thing or the other. Mrs. Jowett was pensive and sweet, and inclined to be silent; her husband gave loud barks of disagreement at intervals; Mr. Jackson enjoyed his dinner and answered when spoken to, while Lewis Elliot was rendered almost speechless by the flood of talk his hostess poured over bun. ^^ "I'm very sorry, Mr. Elliot," she remarked in a pause, that the people I wanted to meet you couldn't come. I asked Sir John and Lady Tweedie, but they were en- gaged--8o unfortunate, for they are such an acquisition. Then I asked the Olivers, and they couldn't come. You would really wonder where the engagements come from m this quiet neighbourhood." She gave a little unbeliev- ing laugh. "I had evidently chosen an unfortunate eve- ning for the County." It was trying for everyone: for Mr. Elliot, who waa left with the impression that people were apt to be engaged when asked to meet him; for the Jowetts, who now knew that they had received a "fiddler's liudiiig," and for Mr I). ! 'S< • "■'■"■ •* PENNY |»I.AIN " '?f^ Hmart/ jjav.. a party, No on« oamt'. Uer hrothfr t{a\« another, Ju»t tlio Mriic. • • • .„'?ff '" ri''. ■^'"; """-"'''"""y. rearing I,.., hoa.l like fimiR..,..Hi, I,,,, ,„ ,i„.i,i„ ^,|,i,.h ,;'„,|„.^.. y '"• ■"" <" «.l.te «. q„i.o so, naturally," numuuml Mr. Jack- the h„.l,„ay» a„,I 1„.,|,^ n,l e„„,p<.l ,he„, t„ oome n" Mr,. Jowctt took a hit of toast ami hroko i, „er™ul She wa, „„,er ito „t „„«, ,„ Mrs. I)alI-WhaIley'7Z: w rehncd as to ho almost inaudible, she felt iarr«l «„, a.T'^j; *■" ,"'"•' """^ " '-"' ""!■ that TdT^o:^ as her body would have felt aft<.r bathing i„ a ro^h s^ amonp rocks. Realising tl,., the eonverStion ."d t.k^ Turning to Mr. Jackson, sho said • "^„ K „ i .i • after that we fei. there was nlftot ;« d Thrvr «-d he would eotne this mor^ing^at ten'eloek^tl ft PESNY n.AIS ,g wa. no novJr." '""'-""^ "''«" "'o Vet. .an.o Uioro "Tllo nullv lln'Oilflll tliim, .|.,„, ;, .. . ,• Jowott, r..fu,i„« ti.0 „nW^ t^ L F '"";'"' ^'u' tho oxpreMion Mr T.. v ' *"^— ^'^" huvo hoard "jwpiitMiion, jiir. .Jackson — a vavtmimf .»..,»»? tir n ti>e pravo yau^ie./. It wan too liT. r*^ r .^^"' inej lound tho doar do^T^ie, and tho Vet— a most ohl!^ ing man call«I Davidson-^camo back '"^^ /^hg- Rover is at rest " "— ^"o oacic ... and dear J •., -^"rvfscore and ten years do sum iit>' barlliZ;' %:::;'' ^-/'»'««." •>- ho,.e«, told j-^ur arn^c. m^y are so smart" ^ :l '' 94 PENNY PLAIN "If you dt>, JanctU," hor hu«brtt*«l warned h«r, "roa mu«t clK«,i« betwtH^n the l,rut« an.i ,„e. I retuMf to life in U.0 Muno hou»o with ono of th.»Ho |Minpere.L triflinir Imlo bcMita. If wo .J.Ti.ln to fill ol.l I{ov..r'i pl«c», I .uif. ^iit ti«t wo p.t a nm^h httin-.i IrJMh t.-rru-r." Ho roll«d the m rouii.i hi« ton^i-. -.Smiethir^ robum that oan bark aiHl cha^o mtn, and not Ii« all day on a cushion, like ono of thoMo .la«h..(l Chinese . . ." IIi« voice died away in inuttcrt'd thunder. Again Mm. DutrWhalh.y reared hor head, but Muriel int^rpowd, lauKhing. "Vou nuiHtn't really be m severe, ^, Jowott. I happen to poiwens two of the 'trifling beaata, and you niunt come and apoloKiso to them after dinner. You can't imafrino more perfect darlings, and of course they are culled Bing and Toutou. You won't be able to resist their little sweet faces-too utterly darling!" Hhant ir said Mr. J(»wett doubtfully. "Well I apologise. iVobiKly likes to hear their d.)g miscalled. By the way, Jackson, that's an abominable bmto of youk Bit three milk girls and devastated the Scot's hen-house last week, I hear." "Yes," 8ain Wherp ol<| Himplicity, Thonjfli hi""•'■• ■<■"»-!"« jour fae- hikkun mu£t be marvellous, and to try an utterlv un- tried route was thrillinp, but what uncomfortaWe .im« men do give themselves! To lie in a tiny tent inZ w'^eoTd'-wt' '""l^/r^ "rawlin, with 1^:.,.^ great, cold, well-nourished fellows.' URh! And vet I suppose you counted the discomforts as nothing wh»n vou med at Everest while yet the dawn 'walked tipC ou ^rmofil'V' """ "^ ^'™'«''' I wonde T) and CTen more wonderful, as you describe it, must have been the v,,,on from below the Alukthang glacier whl^e mis^lowly unveiled the face of Pandimlo tl,:;,:' . * tnink you rau3t go away ^in without me. I have missed you dreadfully these last ?ix months. I; '(I ^ ,^1 1, ;r "'■'""'■'I raNNY PLAIN '» «» -^ .0.0. „.../- -ri-7^^/1^,]:-- you'^t'lhia'^'wri".^!^'? ^ ^^ ""> " '^'e when like it The oo»«^y«ide r :'• and aft r T'" two we ,™,d g„ ,J„„^^ for Chrds The^ " .Citation w^dttludTyf: '"Thr' """ "' 'T"" "">" cousins, and weVe nevt/s^n ,tl T r^""* " '^'"' mother's people, and I h ve al 'rit^^""™' ^hewashroughtup. However, we'rs:«?e In lattaLT . J V*' f^**'^ ^"''^ "■" old resident in PriorsfnrJ n„„ «nd have become acquainted with some ofTh. ? ' ;a.':Lt"o?sSon7o;"<';^-'' r • 99 PENNY PLAIN ^ hj^nt even a motherly old nurse, for Aunt Eleanor MM machine-n-ade people like herself to serve her I dou^ fl J!ii- r ^T "P "^^ ^^"''•«' <^^ow'ls of friends and acquaintances but they were never like re^l hore^l^^^^^ to whom you show both your best and your worst .^rand who love you simply because you are you Thn j7r\ give me that homey feelin- '^ The Jard.nes uw rocK. It 18 like finding a Itoundhead dcliirhtini!' in I^yaLst sports .nd plays, or a loyalist chantW Snd" •^yway, It IS rather a fine eombination. that she IS very anxious that David should not bTZ scrimped for money at OxfnrH ar.A ? ^* almoernothing on heLlf A ' ««°««lf °tly spends '"K "u nerseii. A warm coat for Jrvk- t,.^ e^mng gown for Jean. David finds that he ^^81^ certain books and writes home in distrei 'TU, ^ eas- y be managed/ says Je«n, and g^l^itholt ' »- CTn hi f" "'" ''"• ^'^"^ aTwoTdtVeT ons «ervant— an elderly woman, a widow from Glasgow. ■ I m^'^j I ■•¥.;• 0' 'W ,.di, it. I'l? ' i 1 Iff '"O PENNY PLAIN I like hor way of showinK in vi»itoni. She waa a m.. ,!, ?„T "^.•f.-^"'"' '» '". ■*<> Puta hor hcca on oao ".tl""" ,:"!{■ "7^ "'" -■''•" 1-ito «na«oiaod low IP, ,„. I ],„,„ „„„ „,,^, ^1^^. ^ to minin n.-M.v on the .l«,„lcp, for ,ho iaWy r™,u„M toZ am i» ili93 Joan wis m, an' whit .I'vo think? Whon T h.U,, roo„,l tl,o w„n.ma„ wi, at ma du.' The o.W dav It to my better naturo to mo slightly. It aeem. that part of the reason for her disUunte to mo was tliat she thmight I wonld i>n.l>ahly demand a .avonrv for din- nerl If I did aak such a thing— which IloavJn forbid! -^e would probably send mo in a huge pudding dish of m^Y^roni and choose. Hor cooking is not the U^t of "She and Mawson have become fast friends. Mawaon ''Miss Bathgate spends any leisure momenta she has in doing long strips of crochet, which eventually become a bedspread, and considers it a waste of time to read anv- thing but the Bible, The .Seofmmn, and TI^ Mi.snonary Magazine y,o is very keen on Foreign Alissions), but she doe«i t object to listening to Mawson's garbled ac- counts of tlie books she reads. I sometimes overhear their oonversationa as they sit together by the kitchen lire in the long evenings. * J- '^°.i' '^^', Mawson, describing some lurid work of fiction Evangeline was left shut up in the picture-gallery of the 'ouse.' » j "'D'ye mean to tell me booses hev picture-galleries?' says Bella. " 'Course they 'ave— all big 'ouses.' "Juist like the Campbell Institution— sic a bother it must be to dust !' "'Well,' Mawson goes on, 'Evangeline finds 'er h'eyee attracted ' "Again Bella interrupts. 'Wha was Evangeline « I forget aboot her.' II I - i I'm '.\T .-•^i' ■'■' i .••r '<»;. PENNY PLAIN bad yin"''"' '"^ """■ '^'" ^''° "'' "'" '>''«''' '>»i^ ™ 'to " 'What's that r " 'I don't riphtly know,' Mawson con/<»«». -Kind of a fancy ,lr««, I Miovo, but anvwav W h'cy«. worn at /»eyp.v in /Ate picture ruovwl.' ;;;0h, murder." says Bella, much thnlled. Hpr T T ^^7 ''^J'- ^^^"'"^'^^ '' ^'"'^ ^'attempted mur- der, I should say, for of course it would never do to muJ^ ^lor^tho v.Iet-h'eyed Woino. As it Vpomnl . . 'Td ning of the year I d.all have had more than Zu^of P;i?:;ci^. '''''' '^^' "^ ^« "P«^« «^ Egypt and the Go7w''' '^^«;\h'«5 ^-^ little town, 'a lovesomo thing, God wo^ and Pnorsford is the pick ^ all little towni I love tlie shops and the kind, interested way the^C cities, but I never realised the full delight of shopninitin oXT,r""'^''- ^^^ -^'* ^-' what Tu^'tls o order in all your own meals, to decide whether yon till have a 'finnan-haddie' or a 'kipper' for breakfast m^L more exciting than ordering a b'Ln gown ' """^ keenin^K"'''.' '"^ *,^" ^^^" ^"^8^' ^^ ^^ old castle keeping watch and ward, and the pends through which you catch sudden fflimnsp<» nf fi,« i ""g" wnicn hills. An^ rnn!; ^j'™f^/ ,^* *^e solemn round-backed out in Z\TT fv^ ^ ^"^" ^" ^^^^*« *^^* twinkle ont ,n the early darkness, every light meaning a little PENNY PLAIN ,os 1 o 1 TO ,, jou and I have done all our live, in hou«.« whero all U,o difiiculH,. of |if„ arc kop, in oWinonTd ™.»..|nco n,n, „n woII.,ii,.d wl,„.U is v^ pie JnTdouU VI.™-, ,„ h«tr Maw«,„ and li. I!. ,„„v„r«, i„ ,ho kitohon ™oll (th.s i, the ,„„», „,„.fort«blo and homely leT)' whaViTni^'r;;,""' "•'• "";' '""''"'''^ *■''' «"■"■. "■«' wnat I enjoy ,» tho ».f»w.w of i(, tl,„t if f knew that mv ilr'.i'iis."' ™"" ""^■■""■'•""^^ ^ "o-" C"^ "I .la.«a.y Ii,u in the meantime I „„ bappv-haDDV .n a contented, qn ct way that I novor knew bcTre. "^^ „„., p"- f ^ "'"' ""'• "'<" '""'J '•"»'» Klliot is livin.. up iwMd from here. Do you remember what eood timM were a l.ttle boy and 1 was a wild colt of a rirL I don't h.„k you have ever seen much of him «noeftat I saw a Lw So'" "■"'"° "'■"' ' ""' <"""" -^ Th» he r Wlaw R^""' "*^ *•'' """''' •'■«' *"<• ho inherited J^averlaw. He came to see me the other day not a bit hanged tho sa»e dreamy, unambitious crSrTrathe «n anRoI. I sometime wonder if little Jean wi^nTdTr go to laverlaw. It would be very nic« and fairyl^sh P II I'i CIIAPTEn X tho fallen 100,0. lioZ^^f^ "■"»"'"« "-'' that blow P<«Plo walk ™«rtly ^„„j J7 "?'''-" day that „,„de check, and ,„„^|„, ,^;i;°'' «"™ "'«' children appl,^rod JfagBe.! hi, tail in re«,™",i„ ' h f m.^"^ '''""^ !'«''' having «;„„ hia.i,teT:^",;r;j;":/'«" ■"°'^'' -» "e» 0' We're on senty ^uty „ "l' • "' "j? -'' -".o dow,. he .hado,l hi, eyl ^i°ut haL"°' «" "■"''">™." and m to spaeo for lurking f<«L "'"' P""<'"'^«' "> !««• Petor looked wistfullv ♦ • "^'merthTr ti- 'f "-"'-'^' wtif co'ir'^ ^ean. l^.-ntinV:: Zt Z Z^'^'-uT '""•" -""^ there. . . . ^ . "'"® P^aK, it ha.s set. 8ee— ^ I^ jou have ZZlZuTaPr' "^'K^'^- ^'^^sk are joing to tea at Ho^I'„",* ^^ '^^ '^' I'^^^ela and I "Aw,» said Mhor "Th«f«" i, does Jock. So d^ Peter "^7'"^" ^ ^"* *^ *^«- So jump." oesieter. Lookout! I'm going to 104 \U i PENNY PLAIN ,o« "-I .o ,„„p u;i"'.p;ri:v>:;!: "•"■'"'""' '-"•" *"rluMat.l.v .Ic'un l„„l „ ,,„,„. l,„n,lk.T..|,i,.f „, 1 |. 10 rrfiinu'.l tn ih.. I o ' »>JittorcKl but content, voHtipito a nu»lt^hoap rcnmuunp l^h.n.l to in- .pake of ,ro,»'_r ,|„ won.lcrw ,a. I "^ r """•" hyasop that otowa in ♦». n , ^ ^^' ""^ *J»o .Iways brin,. back ,o molefS Thf^ :;"'' .""l"- , " Bongsays: ^^KyP'-- • . . As the At the way-g*un o' the swallow.' " mel7^"I i; J'? -l "^""^ ^^"'«»^ «<•-*« has," said Pa- n^ela. I hke to hear you .peak it. Tell n.e about Mr^ *^ 1»ENNY PLAIN Hop^ J«mii I do hop© wo ghHil ico hor alonoi I don't Ilka Prioreford tm-p«rtiM; thoy are nitlier like a ton- tMto of oU)rnal puninliment With no choice tou are dumprid down b«ii«l« tho mont irrol^vant iwrt of person, tnd there you roinain. I went to return Mm. Duff-Whal- ley • call the oUicr day, and fell into om>. IMoro I .■,>uld retreat I waa wodRwl into a chair beeido a woman whom I hope I ahall never are apiin. She waa one of tliow bleak people who make tho thought of getting up in the morning and dr.«.ng q«it« inHupjM,rtabla I don't think thorn waa a doUil in her domestic life that gho didn't t4)uch on. .She told mo all her husband could eat and couldn't oat; ahe called her children 'little tot*,' and said she couldn't got so much as a 'serviotto' washed in the house. I thought nobody talked of serviettes outside Wells and Arnold Ben- nett Mrs. Dutf-Whalley rescued me in the nick of time before I oould do anytliing desperate, and then «^ cro«^ examined mo as to my roastms for coming to Prioraford " Jean laughed. "What a cheery afternoon I But it will be all right to^ay. Mrs. Hope never seee more than one or two people at a time. Sho is pretty old, you neo, and trail, though she has such an extraordi.rtrry gift of being young. I do hope you will like each other. She has m J^g© to her tongue, but she is an incomparable friend. Ihe poor people go to her in flocks, and she scolds them roundly, but always know how to help them in the only wise way. Her people have been in Priorsford for airee • she J^nows every soul in the place, and is vastly amused at all the little snobberies that abound in a small town. But she laughs kin.llily. Pretentious people are afraid of her; simple people love her." "Am I simple, Jean ?" Jean laughed and refused to give an opinion on the sub- ject, boyond quoting the words of Autolycus— "How bteosed are wo ttiat are not aimpie men." PENNY PLAIN Th«y ww« in tao ITopotoun Woodt now, .Mid tt tba , of the ..onue could ^ Urn houin, .t.nd.W on a k^l Talk to Mm. Hope about "Sno IN oa pnjuti •)*" »»•" " made theni. I«n*t hnnourobii? — like M o. lOT At the end by tho viow," Joan adriMd. "».r, n^a!^ "^ ''"' f ^''J-''""" WcMlH aa If a»,e hTd It a nice plafo^ Old and proud and Are thoro sonit to inherit T' Join rf,.„k l,cr 1h.«,I. ■•Tb.w wrm ihrw «nk K,. I o,,, hurdly over talk« .Uit ilion, U,t IV» ^„ ,t^ won iikcl— tho kind of «,n« mothi-» am vorv n,n.?/ „» »lf up for a rfiort tun,-, and thon faced the world airain her kind v, .harp-tonpicd self. She i, one of ^ S d-d people who take the atin^ ,„d arrow, thm^, ,h^ by ontmser,ii, fortune and bury ,l,em deep i- Zr h«^ "d go on, still able to laugh, ,U11 able to^ake an inL^t Only yon miistn', .peak to her of what die haafosr S would bo too much." » "•• losi. mat "Yes," said Pamela. "I can undenrtand that." bhe .topped for a minnte and stood looking at the river full of "wan water from the Border hills," at the ZZZ "Ha^ ornamented here aud the™ by stle figur^ 1^*" hWB ttr»,™ wnh winter and rough weather, anrt Z bought of the three boys whc had played here ^h^ Ud I.ved in the white-washed house (shroould ^ 'tZZr^ H I. lOA PENNY PLAIN mm^ry wirulown), balh.Hl utul (i*Ii,Hl in Uio Tw««l, Uirowii •U.ruH, at tho f^oy gfono tlKwriH on th« hmn. cliniM Ui« tr«« iM till' no|i,.eoun VV.hhU, un>l wl.o han a beautiful woman in hw «hiy, and wa« Htill an attractivo fii^oiro, hor wl.ifo hair drcHHiMl IukIi and crowm-^J with a square of hico th-,1 in (piuint faxhion under her chin. Hor black drojw wan w.ft and Urominj? to hor HiNiro fi^mra Thcro was nofhluK uiLsi-htly uU)ut hor yoars; h\w made a^ scom a lovolv, doslrahlo thin^. Not that hor years wen* so very many, Jmt she had lived every ininute of thom; also sho had ^Kven lavishly ann mo well amused." Mrs. Hope studied the charming face bent to her own PENNY PLAIN 109 IFw hhwoym WTO «hr.w.|. an.I though nho -Uk„1 *. „,^, tho ond of U.C way ah. h«.| I..t ,...„o of h.r ln,..r..t \nZ corning, an.l K,„„pi «f Vm,itv Fair " ' ''"«' "d bo entertained Tho™;' I ''r''°"^''*° »"'<>«-■' I think, or Oreenork--17iT ?' '^'><"'<-'i—fihsff,w, little stiff. ThTyV^'C'h „^,.,te m"""'"''' ^"^' • I'm afraid aro ratl.n,. ,. "'^^."'^♦"t ♦'•roe years, and "Von a„> nice'to'^tLm Jo^n'r" ''""''l'"''" do condescend iZZTa^l^^!!' "f "^^'"-^ '' "-ey "Poor Jean r» laurf,«I P i ,'^'' '""""'^ n.ortals." It's a JK^r thing's !Z!^ "^"'" '^ -'- ""d. It IS, Jean acreed "T «.>»,♦ * ^i other day to see a ra!^'„„ n w,""' ''""""S-elasa the ■md I saw « ^ny ITtle ; "I*" * '""J '^'P f-ta-tically, look admiringl^up at"er Th'""',f "" "''''" ^'^ "^^ awful keartleSness of chiMh~J • '7 "'"'''' »"'' ">« and turned her back on fe ' T,'®^""' '"" ''""d away mite stood trying not to cJ^ T" '"'""■"'^- The poor ".iteeamesnuj " ' VS, .?Tf"-^' " '''" "-^ r thought, 'K.fi.^CZrS'^ •7'' '";'■ I'^d. 'Now,' will she be kindP No? » K? f^'' " tl-i"? a snub ii Suture the older girT had ul i'' '^•'"= "''' '^'f^^-"' band and turned hfr back" ^ * '™«^''''* "«•"? ^^ -t he hard for God to^l^Z Z^^^!^ ^^ "® PENNY PLAIN Tm "**' ^'" Wat«,n»-u think I might c.11 SnZ^'S^^'Y r"^^'''' '*'^ ^^ >'°"' I''" «"'« of that Suppo^ I ask them to meet you, and then you could fix a day for then, to have tea with you? It would be a remendouB treat for them, and pleasant for you t^ they are very entertaining." ^ ^ ^^ TH^r! ™ -"anffed The Mis« Watsons were asked to rnl '\T *''. ^^"" ""^"""^led satisfaction spent a ZmlT 1 "•*. '" '\" "^""^P**"^ «^ "^^'^ Ronton, whose oorn.nga and goings they had watched with breathless .ntorost from behind the elegant sash curtain of Ba" Zl\. ", Z 7*^ ^^'"^ ^^'y ^"O^ed a copy of Debrett and studied it all evening. ^^ It was very confusing at first, but at last they ran their mZ^ ^f'''^;'^^^ ^^^ ^«- • • • S^^^'^ the .laugMer (dau must mean daughter) of Quintin John, 10th Baron I^XV "'"'''' ^'''*^' ^'^ "^^^^^ ™ «° «"!'• ;;0h, mercy I" wailed Miss Teenie, quite overcome e^rlT^ Ta^'T ^*^ ^"^ ^^ Champertoun-a Scotch earl tool Lady Ann was her name. Fancy that nowl" And her so pleasant !" said Miss Teenie. It just lets you see," said Miss Watson, "the'hiirher up .you get m the social scale, the pleasanter and freer people are. You see, they've been there so long ihefZ accustomed to it; their position never give^theL a thought: It's t^e people who have climbed up who keep "ZlT^ ^^r .^ .?*^^^°^ ^'^^ ^°d they are." ^ the wni r''' "''\^''' '^^°>'"' "^^'« ^ ^««t rise in ^e world for you and me to be asked to tea with an ^rl 8 granddaughter. There's no getting over that I'm av:?urh'abr - r\-° ^"^^ "^ ^^^ ^^^ i^- - awful habit o. drinkmg my tea with my mouth fuU. It m PEXNY plain 119 «eem« more nahiral i.,n.ohow to ^ve it « mp^ down than to wait to drink till your mouUi's empty." '•Of courso it's moro natural," «aid her sirter, "hut ^^:^:^'' ''"''-' ^'^'' ^ '^"^ ^»-^ -^^ Tho Mi«8 WatHon. called on all their friends in the next few dayn, an.l did not fail to n.ontion in eac-h house, accidentally, as it wore, that on Wednesday thov oxnoftcd to take toa with Minn Re«ton, an.l le,l on froin Uiat fact to^^low.n^' details of Mins Heston's anrc««try. The hoi^d.t of their satisfaction wan readied when tliev happencHl to rncvt Irs. DufT-Wl.alley, who, reniemhering yeoman «orv,co rendcre.l by the si.stcr. at a recent bazaar stopper! them and greatly condescending, gaid, "Ah, er --M.a8 Wat^n-I'm asking a few local ladies to The Towers on W^Inesday afternoon to discuss tho subject of a sale of woij. for the G.F.S. A cup of tea, you undor- Yn ' Til ^"'^°^'^ '^'' '" "^>' ^-" dr'awing^room. of their del.ghtejl acceptance, hut Miss Watson, who had ^affered much from Mrs. Duff-Whalley, who had been Z^^""' 1^^ '""^ '^" P"""^ unnoticen.i,l..r U> m .^ t ' '" "f"^ """"-"' ' ''""-t Bj 11 a. m tl« 1« I T'i, V' "^^ '*'^"'^ ^ can." you-ro boUe/abla to hold 1° o'"**"' 'f' ^■'"'■^'^' "^ you're io. I don't knot X y^ m/'^T """»"' SO'ng to chango to the dcin" '" '^"' •"" I'" ier most se!f-reepectin^ ZZ '*"'^ ''"* a^^^ air PENNY PIMS ,„ Ulk „n. Wo „,u„t trv r ll "" ""•"" ""''J'"'" to «f folk. I'm «.L V," .I'T' ""■','"'' "'""" """" '«'"•' ^w.y, ,l„i„ «,„„.„„•„ ' " """.' "''""t ll,e,n U,ey'ro *""-'• " '. to »« tit"' .: ;: r;"^ ''■"• «•■"•"* *o bo re8jxy.fal>lo." ' ^'^^^ ""*^« "« uttompt f«n .ittin« down ,„ ,™ aTu,ual ,7'' '"" "'""' """l of topi* It had 1..VU Jl vcrTti,r ' ,"","""' ."" "■''■'' it camo to tl,„ noint"L y '^f? '^"^ f"-- "•". hut when Mir'wlr iiif i:-- /;""" :^ ^ "-•-^ -." ■nohbc. and „ oako, «, don't you Li .' "" "'"' ■"'""' VM-' wiH:';i!;''s;:f ,^rj^-'o "o.,y. ..r no™. It'll lik,.|v l,o China ti! '" '"" «o'"K to h«Wn. did,-wator." **" '"'-'"'">'• ""J I'J «. soon ^^ in., W„,.,o„ looked bitterly .t h.r ,l«t. " ""^ ""> '" "«' -rfd, Teon,e; if you o«.'. I: „,JB(!tia ',f '■* PKNNY PLAIN nuking . f„. .h,„. rhi« ,0. »l,™ ^.TT, ^"^ .» wr.'''lX ",1' "" "*'■' "' """ ""»'P« '" k«r.e- «» wiw M habit of horn— nto n «.•.;.- «/ „ i know, how ni„,y w^.r^nillk "^ i ? f"''.™'-'' "'"™" in their da,. '"*I*""» "-o px-l Udie. had .tu,nd«l "^rwu^n crystal, butter was thore in n Inrriu ^' u i Its '•"* «i,o . „ i •" ; ;r r' :"""^'""' -"i-i. "But ••"Ul.1 il,i„k of. '"' '' """ ""• '"'"t n.ai.rk .b. dram..,-., p»,„„, ZT^ '";" ^''» W.„.„, ,i,h . wir^nrttin^ .bout it." t««Wno with .n th.t 'i II lw> an awful miHn •' -„: i i. of i.n,.,„ ,^„,p ij';;;"';""' "" "" "•'••'■"«r.i wi.h » b„t,i, --ni-^-l witli wirln^Zrrhri si '"™""-".""P «.■! P«"y w« oomplrte. ^•'■^ ''""'"n. «nd the Tho Miss Wotnoiis ercct«) thn „ having met then, on bozur i^L ' •?. """"""e" brightly, V both ladies. ThoT^^ro !fr ■*"" '™""' ^""rtoou.ly ".•Je'nT.rrc,^'"' "'"*'"' "' "'<•• P-"^- 'ke -ado th.t wif'tTr'xbt ::s triTT""" -•' "'o^' »nJ »ho drank three en™ % Z ■.*"""" ''<'"«'»•»- i^blo and pronounced Z^th^^^^iTT"'' "" *^' . viiiii^ cxcoilenu hever had she I: /i J If ■ f it'-'. ■ i- fi ■ '** PENNY PLAIN interest, and Csw I ,"''•' "'"'' '^-"'tifying most pleasant party '"' '"""'■•'■''"''•^ o'^" "a^Kfut^r'' •''•!"'"''" '"'■'' ''''^» W„.«,„ in a ,„„,^ aDout our ministor marrying?" i^a"'>e, Huilabt' Ltd""-""'"' '"'"• "»"■'•'■ >™ »»-<- H then to n arryaT two r '"™ " ••""'"■'- - '»«. -d But how sportinK of h™," Paniola said. rs.jowett. I shouldn't have n,Mitioned it." fe8s«l 'to T J %"".'• '""."'' "^ ""■'"'""*^'" Po-ela con- o^^.f;e^ht^.^^^^^^^ .0 bta't";;:,,^""""''" """ 'f"- •^»-«' "'- '■- P-ch "Mr. Macdonald's church is tho nU ir ir- , TLF you know," said ^i^W:^inV^Z^;^^ ■'^"dr- !,7r-^- ^^vZ::!;- - >-■- cH»S' ;an,t«:' jc;j: .rr-^ t « .ou. Minister's brid^oee s.f X"' rpSZoM P PENNV PLAIN ,,« "English," said Mi«s Teenie "an I . golf, and wears skirts noaT t » , '"'^^^' '^'^ P^«7« world sho'll look J kTnt tL ' ^'''^''' ^''^'^' ^" ^^« attending tho pray. rrnmiiLT'"' """ ^'■"•'^ -^ Morrison n.ust £ do^^^^Tr ^' '• ^^^^ '^^ ' preacher." ^onientecj, an-^» well in a ^e, eoVld si;:: S f^ "lk«. exactly. What a splendid description !» I lf6 PENNY PLAIN 1 ^^^H fi i ' i ' j M f ? 'Mr »if-' • T\, ^"V""""^ ^^"^ ^**^°' °»"«»^ elated by the praise Mrs. Morrison is very conspicuous looking. She's got yellow hair and a bright colour, and a kind of bold way of looking." "She's a complex character," sighed Mrs. Jowett: "she wears snakeskin shoes. But you must bo kind to her Miss Watson. I think she would appreciate kindness." ' Oh so we are kind to her. The congregation sub- 8cr,b«l and garo a grand piano for a wedding-present \U«it Uiat good? She is very musical, you know, and plays the violin l)eautifully. That'll be veiy useful at church meetings." "I can't imagine," said Miss Dawson, "why we should consider a minister's wife and her talents as the property of the congregation. A doctor's wife isn't at the beck and call of her husband's patients, a lawyer's wife isn'f briefed along with her husband. It doesn't seem to me fair." "How odd," said Pamela ; "only yesterday I was talking to Mrs. Macdonald— Jean's minister's wife— and I said just what you say, that it seems hard that the time of a minister's wife should be at the mercy of every one, and she said, *My dear, it's our privilege, and if I had my life to live again I would ask nothing better than to be a hard-working minister's hard-working wife ' I stand hat in hand before that couple. When you think what they have given all these years to this little town— what qualities of heart and head. The tact of an ambassador (Mrs. Macdonald has that), the eloquence of a Wesley a largesse of sympathy and help and encouragement, not to speak of more material things to every one in need, and all at the rate of £250 per annum. Prodigious !" ^ "J^"/^\^ ^'^ Dawson, "they have been a blessing to i'norsford for more than forty years. Mr. Macdonald 18 a saint, but a saint is a great deal the better of a PENNY PLAIN ,,, P«»'ibly bo more bclpfu'l tlmn^ ■^""'l'' """ ""^ '^"••''I I who am tl,o dmn? N ' t °'"' y™"" '"''"■ I''» Tho M188 Watsons ouWaycl tZ Zi^' Pamela, remembering' I«„n^ ■ '""■ P""""*. "nd photographs of r^ «b„s ",1,''"'"'-' I'™''-™'! « f-w stray ■merest and somo^e TholZr" T"'''' "'"' """^^ I^rd Bidborouph thev J„ , , '*'"°*?'»P'' »f her brother, Pamela pr^nlj thl^™ '' ''"•"^ '"-^ down. Finally apples newly arrived frnml^l^ "I ?'' « ''a^l''" »f «^«n,od .0 'Ba,m„;:1 wrin^'otr^'' """"' ""-^ '"^^ w£ 4s:rirhXr:^ -." - «- And Mrs. Jowett and Miss n,^. «>eet us," exnlted Miss Cnio ""* ^^^ *» But" 'Irj t 'ifs^^- rT'" ""<""> her sister, and wer?™a,S^i„'^: j".""^ """"""^ ""^'^ 1^' "lothes for supper, S Te^t t^r'Arb""' ""' ''""■ '""» he back in onr own ho^se and - *? '""■"• '''« S"" «» manners." She duIW Ti I • " '"'™ "^ '■<*<' about »he spoke and sp'fd He, kTrt 1:1^'°" I" *'"' "^ «« thoroughly -mLtable Ld at ^ri'^.'"^ '''^' ^•mard""" ""'"' "*■» -p"^^ """' our supper S"^"" ""^ *° •"""« «'«'« toasted cheeee to IJ I in ■' CHAPTER XII "I hear the whnups on windy days (-ry up among the peat Whaur, on the road that spiels the braes. 1 ve beard ma ain sheep 'a feet An' the bonnie lambs wi' their canny waya And the ailly yowes that bleat." Songs of Angus. A/f HOR, having but lately acquired the art of In J"" °^'i ""f ^T^ "^ exercising his stiU very shaky pen where and when h ^ :ould. ^ One morning, by reason o'f neglecting his teeth and a few other toilet details, he was able S, be Zn'st^™ khchr^'T "^'^'^t^'r^ -d spent the time "Te kitchen plaguing Mrs. M'Cosh to let him write an inscription in her Bible. "What wud ye write?" she asked suspiciously. I would write," said Mhor-"I would writ^ Trom Gervase Taunton to Mrs. M'Cosh.' » «, -"^rom "That wud be a lee," said Mrs.' M'Cosh, "for I got it frae ma sister Annie, her that's in Australia. Herf Le there's a post caird for ye. It's a rale nice yin-Sauchl^ XinT""' Glasgow. There's Annackers' sh'ope as p"^" Mhor looked discontentedly at the offering. I wish," he said slowly-''I wish I had a post card of a hippopotamus being sick." "Ugh you want unnaitural post cairds. Think on some- thi ig wiselike, like a guid laddie." Aihor considered. "If you give me a sheet of paper and 128 PENNY PLAIN ■"■toriaH a.d Mh„rr:,„^„"-„,".C<'f'^P'od«oed the "Ptho blue china on ,hfw''! '!'"'■";«»"•, I,>l,„„g l«ht» in Jcan'8 hair ' ""'' '"^^'"S the yellow "■i"^ i' thought" if^s :rr;rf "^0 "- for, yI:^- in winter," said Jfhor "(l,„ i , Poy- It's more suitable " '''•'' '^""^'^ "'""Jo be f m« to have a great trTt' bt "' '} ''"PP""' .™" are o-'i-'t wi you bSrui'Ttiitrri:' "■:, '^ -'-y- 1 I*""-- Cousin ]>wis 3„ij ;"""«'" " "oulJ very litely *-d the car to take us to T , " ^"""^ ''^ ho would "ally because of Pamela she bT *" '""'='■«"■• !''» you must aak to get awav'a t J. "^^f ^^ ''""^- So w.«> Pamela ^d'^llKho;- "' '"''' *"<' ^'" «" "P ■"Whor at once Ipff fi,^ * ui ' remark, stood on hi w^ "f' ^^^«"* "^^^^g any ^is io, find vent. Joek,t Z 1 ""T^ '^^^ "^ solemnised than gleeful ^' ^'°^' '^"^^^ more "That's the first time IVe ever ho^ Je announced. «I couldn't I ^ ^ P'^^"'' answered," I P-7ed that I wouTdn't bl a the' f'"' ^^f ^^^'^^' -^ Gosh, Maggie!" ^ ^^'^ class— and I won't be. "Oh, Jock " hia '4. prayers are for." "'"' P™'*'^. "tbat's not what "Mebbe not, but TV^ ' ^""^ ^^^ °»«««^ed it this time anc 4 m PENNY PLAIN unre,>c.ntant, Jock started on another slioo of hn^ and nutter. Uj fetch Mlior from school. "But Mhor i, a much Rroalcr rosponsibility than Jock. Y„ know whcro you aro with J,K-k: un.ler-eath U a be.lro,-k of ,,„ro pK„l„c«,. You sc.; wo start with the .■"ormous «,lv„„ta^.<, of havi„„ h„,l forebears of tho very d«»ntoM-„«t peat, „„t noble, but m.n who feared God .n,l l,„„oure,l the Km^.-mon who live.! justly and loved mercy. It weul.l Ik- ,„ost „„calle,l for of „, I star to^ on l,yp« h, w,.n such a .straight reeonl behiu.l us. But WW bless h.tr, ,s .liff..„,„t. I haven't a notion what wmit t<, U,o raak.n,, of bin,. I ^,,„ to sec behind him a Ions line of men an,I ..■„,nen who .lanecl an.l lauRhed and gambled and feasted. Ii,d„.heart«l, charmin,. p,LZ wZ7TT l^-f V'"*^ """" '"'"-■'■ ^' I fad. Mho Tom -7. ,r^ ™' of man. ...1 couldn't love Mhor mom .f ho rea ly were my little brother, but I know that my hold over him is of the frailest. ll's onlv now ha I have him. I m„st make the most of the p;c«,nt-,he httio boy days-hefore life ,ake« him away Lm me." her T." l°7 ' ''t';"' '^""^^'" P'"""'" '•omfortod in love." ^^^ "' ■"" ^"^ "^"^ -"d erounded .Jean winke.1 away the tears that had forced their way into her eves, and l.iughod. '^ "I'm hri.n^inR him np a Presbyterian. I did try him with he Creed. He listens! politely, and said eaS2 " Pont „ The'' r'^'f-fii"'" '^ " "'"'' "'^''' h"' »» 1-ont.u.".. Then .lock l.a„shed at him leaining, 'What is your name, A or n?' and Mhor himself preff^d to ^ to the root ef the matter with our Shorter CatechTl an^ answer uobly if oWurely-.W, cUef end is tZ'JZ Ood aW io enjoy Ilin, for ever. Indeed, ho mif^fte PEVNY PLAIV when I wnt , ^ """" "f '"it narsl.v lji|,|,.. (,„, oi- ratl,or Mi„ Mairf, «.h™,| " ' ' ^'"* " ^>'"''^ »cl..x.l. houso. ' ""P' of » pretty, cn^p,.„o„,„j "It on™ belonged to an arti« " T. « « »rroat l,i« li^tt .studio ar;i,;rP "'""'• "Tl"'™ Ma.n and l,er ^-ounp atop,! l^ „r* '"'' """'-'^"">'-- Mi« humonr and undersLdlT I', "!,'""' '••"'^^'•«". f"" of don't raind we ne^Jn't 7ZJj n "'^' *"" '^ ">ey •n most surprisingly and^L „ '•'' f^' ""' ■'hi^'lrcn "th^ his infonnation 2"t thi" "" ."»"">'»'"■"« nS ""•'li- ,• • • Yes, do c„,^r^ '!L'"f ^'r on i„ ,he wonld liko to see .l,e chUd™ " ^ '""" ' """'l- You .•n*»4«n^T'- ^•" -'' Mi- Main object to us «««k thorn into tho lari Lh^w" '"™' ^'»"»"- She people of various si.es^L, ^IT". "JTT '"""'T •'mall ftnj .mbibing knowled^ * '^'"'' '^'''' ^"7 eheer- JMhor and another small k„ Jean preotod the 'm^iL"^''' ':?™P»^ ™« ■." »»-: You'know tu af;;! •'"'■'l ■'■Vaee your tabfe What a™ threiTLerti^';:."'^ "■« -"'iplimion 'if. f Ill "* PENNY PLAIN Saady merely looked ooy. "Uhorl" ' "Six," «id Mhor, after mme thouirht •HoHe«," .aid Mi,., Main. "Come and .peak to my tiatcT El«pcth, Miss Koaton." blue"^::"'' "''"'""'" "■'"' " ""• '"' P" '"'k -«"7 ;'Uo yot. toach tho Mhor?" Pamela aalted her. hnh!),, "?*'"'"y"^»"» f"ll of idea. Thiamor^ ho ha, thought .,„t u ,,lu„ u, Slop tho .ain. The d,/ ho ,a,d, must be gon„ „„, „i,h b|„ j.^^ «?• who he remem^red how sticky it would I {J^l ^ \->J T ''" '''° "'"" '""•dTf"! feeling for words to h^;V t r"' ""•''"• "« ™"''- ^^ inrtanee,Tar to hoar a B.hio story told in everyday languaCTi The o^er eh.ldro,, like it broken down to .hen,rbr iftSr mTit /."° ™' ""'•'"' "" '""■' the swing and majesty of them I was reading them Kipli^, story, Sen'anis of the Queen, the othe? day. Yo. kZr 7alinV'.'"f H "'^ "^^ ^•"'"' °f «'«' "»>'» »f the cHy falling, an,l the dust went up as though many cattle were eommg home.' I happened to look up andTere w« Mhor wuh lamps li, i„ those wonderful green ey«rf h.* ga^mg at me. He said, 'I like that bifT's Tni^ bit I thmk .t should be at the end of a sad story ' H he ns^ words well himself, have you noticed? The oS^r day he came and thrust a dead field-mouse into my hand I squeale, and dropped it, and he said, 'Afraid? And rf such a oalm littlo gentleman V" """'ana ot Pamela asked if Mhor's behaviour waa good. Only fa.r, said pretty Miss Elspeth. "He alwan means o be good, but he is inhabit^ bv an imrS tTint H r^yi 'T '° '" "■«- ™« ™P™W>^ things. He certainly doesn't make for peace in the school, PENNY PLAIN ,„ Mtural heart of the U.ain ' " "^ ^^^'^ nii«tre««08. ^^ '**"® '^*»*>«' and 'to Kiool-nmrming very du^' J, T "S"-'' would think •wtcr, to make tho dullest 01,7^^' \^ '"'' '"' like ih«t T i.T '" ""■* f *■"'' hud a teacher Them's .h^ cri ,i ;"';„ntk™,;'"- ""•'"■"•"• • • • Run in tor your thick »„ vT '^T""'^ ""Pationtly. Peter. Ho cha"d ,W„T 1 ^ ^''' ■>"'" '""'« t»ke U.O Manor Valloy u..d, cmorginR, made Htraiffht for tho hilU, whidi closo.1 down round it oa though jeulouH of tho aocrotM th«'v piard.tl. It «oi>nied to a Htrangt'r w* if tho road KhI nowhwo, for nothing waa to J« wen for miles ox.«opt haro hillsi.l.^ and a hrawling hum. Siuhlonly tho road took a mm, a whito bridire Hpanned th.. noisy Lavorlaw Water, an.l thoro at tho ojwning of a wide, groon glon stood tho house. L0WI8 Elliot was waiting at tho (hxirsU'p to greet thora. Ho had Uum out all n.oming, an.l with hini Mvr« his two dogs, Rah an(I Wattio. .To«-k and Mhor threw (hetnselvoa on them with nuiny endearing names, kforo Uioy oven looked at tlieir host. "Is luncheon ready ?" was Mhor's greeting. "Why? A.e you hungry?" "Oh yea, but it's not tliit I wondered if there would be timo to go to the stables. Tam says there are some new puppies." "I'd keep tho puppi(« for later, if I were vou," Lewis Elliot advised. "You'd better have luncheon" while your hands are fairly clean. Jean will be sure to make you wash them if you go mucking about in the stables." Mhor nodded. lie was no Jew, and took small pleasure in the outward cleansing of the cup and platter. Soap and water seemed to him almost quite unrecessary, and ho had greatly admired and envied tho Laplanders since Jock had told him that that hardv race rarely, if ever washed. * * "I hope you weren't cold in that open car," Lewis Elliot said as he helped Pamela and Jean to remove their wraps. "D'you mind coming into my den ? It's warm, if untidy. The drawing-room is so little used that it's about as cheerful as a tomb." He led them through the panelled hall, down a long US WUH PENNY PLAIN pa^go hunff with «jK,rtinK' prinU, into what eviJctly a mucl-likcl and much-ui,.! ro.>m. IfcokM worn ovorywhor,., lining U,o walln, )yin.r in hoam effort hud ov^dmtly U... n.ado to ti.lv tl.inKH a litilc ^pap^^r. hud Uvn colh.t.d int. h.null... 'pi, JZ,' ^Un^laUmto HWcvUwi thn tol,u..r.>.|ude« tttnmH,>lK.rc.. A lur^r,, i.ro hurnod on tl.o hearth, and iJwin null.Hl up ^.no „ja..ulin.lo<.kin. arnwhairs and usk.l tho it^ t^ Hit .n thorn, hut Jean al.,..^ with J-H-k and Mhor wero family, l,e ,„„! ,„ ,.„„„.|„ ..,f ^ read while tlmv'rc ftmlJiiK " '>i ,„,h«erihahly Kr«m It wear, ho fairy livory. I ,.«„ ea,i!v picture True Thomas, walkinj l,y that stream." " ^ a keep at Laverlaw instead of ahouse, and Cn„in L<,wi»' reZ!^'" "^"^ P"""""'' "^■™ ■«*^"'' "y " ""h «uch Pamela turned to her host .rsW" ■ "• ""P" "'^" y°" "* '''«»^'«d sheep, Lewis Elliot looked amused. /• "I can ima^ne the scorn 186 PKNNY PLAIN W i M I Mra n.»j*„ j„,t into hor vc>i«^ ^ .h« Mid 'ihiNm.' But 1 hko « tht^p," Mid d.Kk, Aud 1... .JUOtlHl : " '/,*• «"»wrMtl«B i« not dMp "You may bo tiirpriied to hoar," laid lAmi^ "that ^cep am .ln.o«t like fino la.JI.. in U.oir way-: C lytiM? en tho h.ll more or h^ d.ud U) U.o world, and I All ho »a.d wa*. 'I kon that y.,wo. Sho aye con.eTowor dwainy .n an oa«t wind.' . . . H„t ,dl ,no. Jean, howT M.« HoHton oonductinff honM.If i„ Priornford ?" With U.O ^m^tOHt pr.>pri..tv, I a-^^uro yuu," ra«H^a rrjphod for horw f "Ar..t,*» r i a t i .. ' '""*^" MvH Duff wi^i . ' "*"^ ^ *»"^*» *^'"^'*1 with AlrH. Duff-Whallcy and Ih<>„ introartie«. inat.on that ol.l woman, with her sharp tongue, acd h^ haggani, beautiful oyos, and her dft«J «^«a V i TLfiHi TT^ ^ J I , "®"" ^D**- T^o know M™. Hope «od her d^ughtor i, «,mething to bo tl,.„kful SnU^ttT^ The n„po, do much to loaven the luoip. iJnt I expect you find it rather a lump " 'Honestly, I don't I'm not being «.perior; ple«, 1S7 PK.VNV PI.AFN «t tli.'.n „., ,i,l,.r„li„,, J, I """■'•"•'' l»<'Pl b., « .lull n „7^ ,.:„.*; " -- '"-•"•w by not o„ntcnt with tl„t ,.„, ' , " "'"" » l"-"".V f^"-". Imt ™ann.,^„b, ., „m,l "£/" '» «''-""/ .kit.i^ i» smart ,\,ne do*-. ^Z- "?"~'»"'" w''«l «hr, tliinlu offence to tho littlo ^ev town i '. ' f P*^'''^*» flmosomo provincial JnaAn^ n\ '"' '■•'"''■•^«' '^^^ Duff-WhalV" '^^"«« <»»W bo until I mot Muriel "Oh, poor Muriol I" Jean nmto«t«I "V«. ' , her anyway, I}„f vnn'«. _* . '* ^^o« vo done for -mart friend, .„'j' '^J^ ^ .f f V™'' "^-'Picd vrith more ewltod momenta but I i ' ■** '"•■• '" •■«• done talking about^he' r" ,! '""T ^''"' »"''' »ho h« -" -i^r .r4 t"w«:j;:.^ "o^; t ? 'r "■" '"i' "■■^ oompanioD, and has ni«, ,l„li ! ' ,* ^"7 P'oaaant -a".T far U elevor rbo :^„ ,tT V "'"""^'"^ ^he-. «°'t .luite understand ht P^rff.^ 1' r^-""* '^^ her mother." P" ^^ ^^*^ Jt to pleaae ^r5"''p™ri-*J-' " «-"■■« « 0. ta » (■ l; Si ; I 138 PENNY PLAIN ,■ - "5 I- 1^ "Priorsford is a moat charmipg town," said Mr. Elliot, **but 1 never find its inhabitants interesting." "No," Joan eaid, "but you don't try, do you ? You stay hero in your 'wild ^Icn sao preen,' and only have your own friends to visit you " "Are you," Pamela a.^koil Lewis, "like a woman I know who boasts that she knows no one in hor country place, but gets her friends and her fish from London ?" "No, I'm not in tho least exclusive, only rather blcUe, and, I suppose, uninterested. Do you know, I was rather glad to hear you begin to slang tho unfortunate Miss Duff- Whalley. It was more like tho Pamela Rest on I used to know. I didn't recognise her in the tolerant, all-loving lady." "Oh," cried Pamela, "you are cruel to the girl I once was. The years mellow. Surely you welcome improve- ment, even while you •remind me of my sins and faults of ^outh." "I don't think," Lewis Elliot said slowly, "that I ever allowed myself to think that the Pamela Reston I knew needed improvement. That would have savoured of sacrilege. . . . Are we finished? We might have coffee in the other room." Pamela looked at her host as she rose from the table, and said, "Years have brought clearer eyes for faults." "I wonder," said Lewis Elliot, as ho put a large chocolate into Mhor's ever-ready mouth. Before going home they went for a walk up the glen. Jean and the boys, very much at home, were in front, while Lewis named the surrounding hills and explained the lie of the land to Pamela. They fell into talk of younger days, and laughed over episodes they had not thought of for twenty years. "And, do you know, Biddy's coming home?" Pamela said. "I keep remembering that with a most delightful Isf 189 my PENNY PLAIN ^ifoTm^^^^^^ ^° ''"" ^- -- than a yea _.^ "He was a rnost cbarmino- hr>v " i • . , ho woald b. about fifteen whcTlJT'r^''- 'rf^^'^ 18 he now ?" ° '^^ -^ saw him. How old "Thirtv-five. Bnf eii«k always li™ 'K tl,ins8, ways. 1/ he had livIT .r?' '' """'"« i" «"tro,l,lon have sailed wiih Franci T.^t 'TV""' "'"^'^ '«> """Id ;'ng of Spain's bcaTd oi ' " d H '•' .'"'''^ *" ''"^^ ">« Biddy. The charm he lad' llf"''\^°'' "'" ^'i" '*« '■•ttle bit Ho ba "st I thAf T ''* '"^'''' '<«' one The War ba^ chanscd bin? Z ' ^''"""'■'-winning smile. hi' We, and he St ho I ^.T' TP""" «'«' »"ddenc^ «eO: When it was all ot f„':lT:i1 •■« -- - y«ar. roving. He has a great nro W Tk ^. I °°« °""-« y«"'« ever be aecomplisf ^1™^ E^ f "^^^PP"* "ill peat friends had arranl^ "^''..f Tf '' ^e and three everything of course wTs^ 'L f "™ '^^ War, but he wiU never climb it wl^hl^'^',.'"'' "''*'«'■«'■ h-PPens to scale gr«.,er hei^hlT tta^Tve"T '^""^^ ^''"^ "'«' '^r bfpri aif?^^. «^ -: d^ot -t ^"an1rS^{^»--ilLr----'' "Prr. ri ,^ ^ ^""""^ 'oiuid and waved fn ^k ^ -l m glad," said Lewis «fl,o^ 7^ **^ ^®°^ friends. Jean— -" He ;to r^^""" ^^ "^^ ^^^« °^e Pamela stood verv <5f,-li +?: * "Yes?" """^^ '*^" ^^^ a second, and then said, "Jeaa and her brothers are sort of ^ • . I^e always been fond of tW f/ "''°' ^^ '°^^®- ._ .. . . « «t them, and my mother and I It give them a good time wh«i wo could, for -= 1 140 PENNY PLAIN I Greatraunt Alison's was rather an iron rula But a man alone is such a helpless object, as Mrs. Hope often reminds me. It isn't fair that Jean shouldn't have her chance. She never gets away, and her youth is being spoiled by care. She is such a quaint little person with her childlike face and motherly ways! I do wish something could be done." "Jean must certainly have her chance," said Pamela. She took a long breath, as if she had been under water and had come to the surface. "I've said nothing about it to any one, but I am greatly hoping that some arrange- ment can be made about sending the boys away to school and letting me carry off Jean. I want her to forget that she over had to think about money worries. I want her to play with other boys and girls. I want her to marry." "Yes, that would be a jolly, good scheme." Lewis Elliot's facD was hearty in its agreement "It really is exceedingly kind of you. You've lifted a weight from my mind— though what business I have to push my weights on to you. . . . Yes, Jean, perhaps we ought to be turning back. The car is ordered for four o'clock. I wish you would stay to tea, but I expect you are dying to get back to Priorsford. That little town has vou in its thrall." "I wish," said Jock, "that The Rigs could be lifted up by some magician and plumped down in Laverlaw Glen." "Oh, Jock, wouldn't that be fine?" sighed the Mhor. "Plumped right down at the side of the bum, and then we could fish out of the windows." The sun had left the glen, the Laverlaw Water ran wan ; it seemed suddenly to have become a wild and very lonely place. "Now I can believe about the raiders coming over the ^" in an autumn twii.VJ,^ v . . ^*1 flometliing haunted abo, t Tk- "^'"^ ^*°^^a. "There i. - ^1 close t<^r X^;Z^wh 'f T f "^ •^-"- TouVe grown quite 8uburUn't^^«^«*l«utit.» Jean, I was told a nh^r^ u ' ^^^^^ taunted her the other dav tL ^ *^"* ^^o Pnorsforrl J 7 «w aaj. liiey were in T^.,j -^ ^'"rsiord ladies P.TW. d«,co at the pZe / "^'■" -^d "ont to «e *«r la^t appearance that ^J^ *^, ^"' ""o. It wa, iown on Pavlova emMuTin ^ "■" '""''"' "«' 'kanka to an 6nrapture>'e. f^" '>right ;icl^,"'"fc''' »■"'<' lookoj consistently on ■"'oftWsasloan.'ep.id ° °'" ""■• ''■•idge listening I i (I (f ■ •■ * ;.• J' M I > ' 'I "♦ PENNY PLAIN f'ri.J -'"' °' )*" *''"1 "'"' ^^ "'tor. A river-, . ov^rnd'tlt h'.l'""'' ' ■''™"'7-'"'^"'''8 *'>■ '«» the wearm a lovely now gown, sort of yellow. It suited her iXo!Si^,y ^o ""' '-■' "*• «"« i-^i^: I'mTrJ"* •'?'[ ""^ ''""'" »»'•' Mis, Bathgata "But I m no denym' that there a kind o' look aboofher that"! nlw^n "^^ ' «^'' ""'''«» -^«y." "aid loyal wark oo the hoose to dao an' washin's forbva an' hJ»'. Mawson who ifi ^ T*""' ""''^ ^"'^ Socialiets." the IT ' '"'®"' '» *'"'* f»«* disappearing body envy d iX^i" • "1?' ''"' "'"'' -it^outTtho^htTf Zf; pS' "■ '''' P"^'™ of »- "-tres^ looked h'e^fn'^U.a^'t; fl'/ Mrf M •^'"^ 7°"^ ""' "»«' 'ird TV. I "• *'""■ "oJtt door works very arf. I ve seen her ^.t oat a washin' by seven o'cI«kl^ 145 PENNY PIjviN "Oft and drink, bcr mornTn'L ''V "'" '^'"» "« know, tho ..,i,fij ?X,C M ~"ij""' !"" '^'^ "<"«' t«k08 in 'or clean c Jos " ' ^^'"- """ " »>■«>• 'he Div«'ll catch it in ,,„ otl .'"f ^ ""'"' """ 'hat Abraham', bo«,m, wo ™n ni'„„-. f"™" "" ^^ '» An- .pcakin' ai^tlCCZ I '"' ""''"?'« ''o-- "orking. Yo can ««, by ZZk J K " T"' '""• "»' w«8 meant to work buTr.? *""■ "■"» »'»' "o™' "deeclus. Shc'8 juist foHookin' » 1 1 ,u T" 'h"^'"'» the bonnie thingi. . . C ?, Vk " "" ''°"" ""^ »' "pmabirac. That Jr,, Dnff XVI , * ""' ^''"' "«" P't •boot wrap „p in fur7'in f . ''^' """'•"^tl RoHin- Mj that's dafrcno„U,*fr'.V'""',P**"""''»' <"<"-y- Vher. OnybodyruW all .''''''™'"" "^ P"™"''^ An' thfro', naeMy IVJ'i^ CT'fJ"' """'■ ' ' ' mppoeo whon yeVe naid ?„, TJ """""^Wo objecta. I ' "' P""''"'-'" WhaiIeysabo„t;y„,.K,„J,'',''"'\P'o°ty Mrs. Duff- The poor pe„;,e C d„'^ f"""''!,'' P'"^ ^ *''ink. london.andthocIer^sZ^ k™w they're bom after "Oh/ they arrthaf iT ""^ "1"* **'•" Kann. Mr. Mo" , /.t"" say they're as Ruid aa J, him." *"■ " » ^« "an if marriage disna rain " IS' m'f iJ i : i ,, 146 PENNY PLAIN "Oh, surelj not I" J7^t' ""1^^'"^^ Bell* gloomilj. "She', young jnd flighty, but there's wan Unng she haa no m^on^ r kcnt a min..ter~he waa a kinda cousin o' ma fathei^t 1 tril ye that late denner was the ruin o' that man. It fair got between h.m an' bin jidgmont Ho couldna vee.it «u„ 1 h \VT^'^' ^«"'- '« the evening because he wa. h.» Io,l(Iy.wife wanted h.m to be, ut hame eftor denner. There 8 mony a thing to cause a minister to stumble, for thoy re juist human beings after a', but hi. rich ma.rrage wa. John Allison's undoing" .-"^n"^*^" ''^\^ ?^'*''^°' "•« * ^««* "«J^- It's often as well to be single, but I sometimes tlnnk Providence ^Ltum'"'""' """ *' """ "^ 'usband-I'm such a clingin' Such sentiment, were most distasteful to Mis. Bath- gate Uiat self-reliant spinster, and she said bitterly Ma wumman, ye're ill off for .-^mething to cling to! I never saw the njan yet that I wud be pitten up wi'." Ho! I shouldn't say that, but I must say I couldn't fkncy a h undertaker. Just imagine 'im 'andlL TZl and then 'andhn' mo!" -^^ «««« «b3 T ^^ """^^ ,'''^*"''" "^'^ ^^"«' ""«^ disgusted. But I suppo^w ye're meaning English undertaker^men hat does naething but work wi' funeral^a fearsome ill Cir Wi;'' ^^ ^"" ^^^ '^^ ^' *^-^^ - ^t's faur wfl'^'i 1^".*. '"™'^'" «aid Mawson, who pre- mlr, 7!^ K^r*"' ''^ ^" ^^J'^'^ ^ '^^^^ ^^din'. The motors and the bridesmaids and the flowers. I. there no chance of a weddin' 'ere?" Miss Bathgate shook her head. "Why not Uiaa Jean ?" Mawson suggegted. 147 PENNY PLAIN Again liim Bathgate shook her head. ''Kao siller," she said briefly. '•What! No money, you mean ? But h'everr gontloman am t after money." Maw.son'« exprosnion grew softly sentimental as she added, "Many a one marries for lore, like the King and the bcggar-nuiid." "Mebbe," said Bella, ''but the auld rhyme's oftowr true: '' " ' Be a IkMie no 'er lae hl&ck Qie her but the nnmo o' alller, 8«t her up oo Tintock tap An ' the wind '11 blaw a mar. till her. Be a laasie ne'er sae fair, Oin ahe hinna ponny-sillor, A flea may fell her in the air Ere a man be evened till her.' "x" Helena and Domotrh,. ""'®"". Hermia and Lysandor, they .or7"a^X" """*"'' '^'"'* '''«'' "''' oaHin. over the nr^'oThirctte" ^""' '""'"'"' '^ Are we all met ?" all'TheX'"p.t' '^S'h"''" "'"'"'''°' '" ■"' P-- place for ou ^CrSJ^^' " 7""? '""' """'»'»' action as we will do it before the d^kt" " Pamela E«U.„, i„ her usual pl.oe, the co^er of the H8 tik PENNY PLAIN ^ ,49 iof. beside tho fire, threaded her n«.ilo witi, a bright ..Ik thread, and watchcl tho pia^p^rH amuiKMlly. '^ Did you «v«r think," «ho umIcchI Jean, who aat on a footstool hoH.de her---a glowing fi^uo in a Chino^. ct,at ^.ven her by Pamela, enKu^a-d rather in<^nirni.MMlv in .t must haveJ«on hko to nee a ShakeHpcare plav for the first t.mo? Wa« the Globo filial. I won.lor. Tith a ouito anexp^^tant first ni^ht audience^ And did Uu'v nlli^ tlmt tho word« they heard were deathlc. words ? ^ra^ n^ hearing for the first time: *'"a*?ino " 'When dainien piH nnil rioletn blu« Aa•'« ■■■■ ".»ir who a,Jv,».,| ,. Zu'L r ■"', '.' ^""""•' """'"••f""! from .ieufh. If ^.„ ,i:,, ., . ' , '^ ^^^^ all its moanin/f *«"1.1 ^ on ^Z™7 „'^ / '»'. '"'"'f forty year, we , we would Ik, apMo ^n; T" " '""' "'"' J-^inK. •Jothos on agal^ T ^"'^ ' ■"""" '^ *« ^M cvor put oar ■ifi H PKNN'Y Vl.MS ,., r-iu!:.";;,,';: .t",';!,;;;:':, •, •'"'"""■' - """"•■ v-..'" «. cl»vr ,„a" '' ""• '" ■•'"' "«''in»l f«t.., «„.! "III. v.m r(.«li„, ||,„, J, ■ .. «i'l •l.-.in, lu if ,h„. „ ',' " '" '"""" ""« «"-ki" «f ..,..in,i:,„. .. , ,"1 . :",T" '";"','■•'' f"^ »"> "•"•■"'" "'.' r. b '''VV"" '',"""" ■•"""« ■""i Pla>- K.L i: '"'':, ■"->"•"•'«>•„ hi, work, famo .lairoaao «,^m, a very I" - 'T,"^""" "n "'» -i-'.^ <,..it« „ .oH.,r:Z'Z.u: lllV "'?'"' imeo,„m„„Iv kind lo I)„vi„ u ■ '"' '"" '«" Wtl. I,i„, ,,„ „ock bulTf """'^'•'m have snflForod an oJ ,. '^ ""''^^ ••'» rfocn-t ,l„„k ho will ho ablo ,1 ±1 :'"T ""'' J"*^ him and not laugh." """' '" "'» "■'«i'> with "I cxpcvt Jock will b© 'affrontpd ' " „;j d , you aren't the only on« wl,^ ' • ""* '^""'■•'"- "But ■nrl A-y „.-, :'^t " '''P™'"«r a brothor Jean .. .. .A„j n.„a,™, I ,a.y ,,„ ,^^^ jj. j^^ ^ ,^.^^J^^ '.I ( f '=1 ^.JLik" Kif. -J1^-/*:^,^ ! ^n i i I •no wipod from Pm.* g • i , but the™ i™, „^ .oo^/aCr """■ '""' ""» H"''i<»'! . , ^'*"> said Jean anr? a* "> W hospitable way to 2 ,i ?K^' ''""' '""' "'nted i«u- that It was an absur,! „^'"} "'<-' luipulso with » of h.m appealed to her imLir.' *, '^" '''» ''"J heard ""fhe waa with domes. crrSb»7' '"'". ''«'"'' """'hered «"'™tnrous spirH V;<*. behind the rL^'l'^^ttb- "■".-"---"he ••"".g eaeapades of an advom, "fl "'^ '"'"''"' «" "'6 •^"■o and money at hi, .li ZI sbT/"""" '""" '"'h Pamela^ "Biddy," b„, nonL tJ "'' """'» " '■«™ of shrwk from .fce meeting. Snltll" """ '" "'=<' I'™ »he »or' of person who woSd l7w " T" " ™P<"-e'liou, "■„, brother ■For Christmas, I tbinlr " . • i t. come baek again, bo Z Lise tb^T'"' "•"« ^ 'hall ■nomhs, Jean f" ^ ^''"o "■"' P™ been here two .'^"^""fmeo short to you ?» "ueb a part of Prittet^so :^r ' "{ "^o^^' ~ It jnust be the Border blo;d in 2 " ""' P^P'o *- 't. -ed ber own country dearly rla™ he. f' """'"^ •^ ""0 heard my aunt PENNY PLAIN 153 Scot, borne, JBTddv .II ''"'"'.""^'"' "» •» k-ow her went to „ .Ii„i;,t wno stiJl sat on the ^t IM PENNY PI^iN «a2'^ . great g^,, ^, ^.„,, ^i ^ ^ -^^yigl^L^^' """^ >■!% ". play. «n^ I have taken no rooms." •'^'"' "'^ *<> me? "Oh, that's all rurht . . . awfully nice di,. *t ',.P°^'» «« «l>e station, a moat to ono of the ho tel^. jXZ,°,f f* -"^ "' """J «»« ^ <«" P«t me up. Th^n I .II^,''"^'"" " ''-^i thj the witching LnlotMi^^'^ T'"^' ""-'-"-^ a hoy with n,e to SndZ^ui M ''^^*' ""^ ''"'7 "^t "The siTeti'ar,^^ S"' rt^"^' "Mayn-t I f«d Uh fj„^f V !?"' l^t dinner?" "»"W like me to. And iC i ^^""^ *''* Bathgate r^ts. After cold strag^^oo^r^./" «*«-«! heef^d amying on you like this «„T\i- "^ • ^"^ive me 'oo fir^t thL T^'„ • ^ You havo a &,o collection here" ^ ^° '" " '""'^ birthday, and at Phri,,! ?"' """"^ "' «""«. »» "To,, 1,1 CJhristmaa, and never vaJuable books." lou havo some very rare bonk.. ik:. * • ... les. Father treasured that—onJ l '""^"e- this?" mat— and have you seen They browsed among the books for . v.m j -r tarnins to Pamela, said, "I rTe, ,l!l thi J '.'?^ ^'^' •ame to see us von dirf .I,;, ."""""f^ '•'o first time you at the hooks." ^ ' '°°' ™"'«' "l*"' ">d looked WbTII^''" r''* ^™'''»' "^'^'"^ "peats itself" bo^H I m^."."" ''™""'* '*«''''" -■<> J«— "modem aahec^l'tolt '^raJ'rT *^„*^'f' »'^'»« «■<* book war^a-r r trhatro';:f ^hT ?-^«" *-« g«od-,oo graphic, somehow ^'- ^'"' ^'"'S ^"^ '~ iX a dar^iS:!! "/r^'-'y-ab^ut :^ "Isn't it f;?i«" j^T °" "' '""? °» I «"J And John Sriend.d w« « gallant and tactful: 'dim in the B.Tt° Toul «„d u ^''"',"'" Pl^e"" h«"°1°";' *'"' ''ar»h.n,.nnerod L^iZ. clnLir T-r* "' '"'' ""' '■'''"' ""'"■"' <^i«i. 'O Clan Campbell, I'll never call vo down-ye may have Z g».Ie they claim f„r ye, h„t ye have^he way "uh ^ :".::"'' ■"-^ ^-^ """■ «>"™<"^ -- "- « awp^d :^: r;:«T' '""' ^-^ "^ ^"^«» •- •» "I remember," said lord Bidborough. "And the wondP-ful dcscriptions-'I know corries in Argyle thlt whisper a,lken do you remember that? And the last scene of all when John Splendid rides away?" Uo you cry over books, Jean >." Pamela asked. She was 8"t.ng on the end of iho sofa, her embroidery fran>e r»H fi Ti'T'* ^"' "'"'* ""'• "^"'y •» g° "hen her brother had finished look.ng at Jean's treasures. Jean shook her head. "Not often. Great-aunt Alison ^d It was the sign of a feeble mind to waste tears o™r The mi on the Flosat Tom and Magrie have b.1 M^.e. He .s rowing when he sees thereat mill matiuiery sweeping down on them, and he tak^Maggie's hand, and calls her the name he had used when the^ere happy children togethet--'ilfa<7«e/' " tlT\'"^'^'^\"^°'^''« 'PP*^' *» y»" » ""-eh as vIa^, ^^ T' ^^ S^--'- '«^'" ha™ you got now Biddy? Nelly's Teacheraf" ^ ' "Oh, that," said Jean, getting pink-'that's a book Pill PENNY PLAIN ^^7 "Oh, Jean, you babel" Pamela rriiv? "n- Jea, Mid Jean defianilv, ■and enjov tliom too" 'And why notr' asked Lord Bidborou^r ^\.- Buckleberry Finn as much now a» T 7 i •. t "^"^ twelve; and I often yea™ afe .heUt "l rad a"" boy and never sec now T uwl t„ 1 ; t " ' over them. The Cl,^p.r„XecLT "^ '^ ?"""« thth 'f^""r*^ 4^™ar/„;/rj' th.'^tTe Itnl "inL",'^,:''''"'''.'""' "■'""^•" "^ '■"«'« For hit a-rKu-wThal irr-L-nr^v^ ""Th'^i ^sSh^i?Fr'°^^--^^^^^ which L^^edtsaT^arhrr "r."'""* *"' "«'"*•• .pp^ving's.a./rsheT^dLnUr^Fo^a'Ad"' P;t me against Iord=. I eanna see mul.e IZ'^^, yin. A rale pleasant fellow I tak' him m 111 T M.H.Wn kinnaU: Ijl tr* ttr^t 1:^^^^ (. ,1 it? i Mf ^*® PENNY PLAIN 0' it ii' w„ ,,i, ,bo,„ a> „,v , 7""' ■'''."" "''^'' ''»" wwld ofto, .ell't An,l,.„ ,hat 1°1,""";''^ "' «.m,.„h„ra I »• bi.n. It'll' i^ln,;: ;:'">''? "'"" ^'-""-'"'-^^ ^^^-^ disna think tl,or..-. o.ntl , , ''" ""' ">'"" »>» -to g^«in' quite usedul'ilr .lir-" "'""' •""' """ "^"'^ pleasure), Mhor «cn off ,! ? " ^"/''""'"•I'a. doubtful up on tho «,fa wi'h pi . J"'' ,».»'' J*^' «"le,l himself hour with a storv2,k vlVilf T '"'"^ '"*^''*'' «'™ of stockings. ' •^'■"" "■"""'"''1 ''" 'larniug wouldn't have liked t„ „ oet^.L" T " ■TT '" ^"'"'^ ^ But they seeme,! quite hn„vn^ 7'"^^^ ''^"''' '""'»«• olK-ut fust anvthin " Id i ■ *".':"*"' """k". »«'! taJk tease Peter. No f e"' MlL'l'/'lfrl''"'' '"'"' '""' own atrai™, ,,„t r w^.d^h, ""v , h^Td ;,'*' "I"'"' "'^'^ hearing all about evervthir 7"'"^^"' ,*''« P'e"«Te of Pamela has sueh a loIZ ItT? oouldu't i„e waited. I;;^nice and sort «f Zf at, t", "W^ '"'' f r ''"«^- hole in ,he"?„:';';';\::[r: '- «»««-3 A-ou,,, a lar.. I m only fit to keen bouse »nJ J» bo.ys about washing their eZ ^a™ '""' """"y *« I had on my Chinese coat." ' ' " ^"^°^' ^''" S'^ CHAPTER XV *'Her gown sfaouM be of Ko.loline« Well ribboned with renown, Purfllled with pleaaure in ills place Furred with ,lne fashion. Her hat should be of fair having, ' And her tippet of truth, Her patclet of good passing Her neck ribbon of ruth. Her sleeves should be of esperanee To keep her from despair: Her gloves of the good govemanoe To guide her fingers fair. Her shoes should be of sickemest In syne she should not slide: Her hose of honesty I guess I should for her provide." The Garment of Good Ladie$, 1568. J^S^v*""^ u^'''' ^°^^^ ^°^ 0° the time Lord dreaif ^^°^ '"^ Priorsford as one long, rosy It is true they had to go to school as usual, and learn their home l^^ns, but their lack of attention in school- hours must have sorely tried their teachers, and their home lessons were crushed into the smallest space of time so as not to interfere with the crowded hours of glorious hvmg that Lord Bidborough managed to make for them! Ihat nobleman turned out to be the most gifted plaver that Jock and Mhor had ever met. There selS^rend L^L^r ' """^^ ^°^'°*' ^^ ^' PJ^^^ ^ith a zest that carried every one along with him. 159 I h \ I ' f i :» •;h ' if Mf I •*> PENNY PLAIN of SI. h.„ " T"" * »'«»•'»''■'•• life w„ o™ on trollej^*^ "''' '""•''<^' "■<» «» ^im up and down l"gh aWe tl,e furnace, told Mm to ^M I » il °^ '"i: "^ upon .he engine gave In angu S^ h«l mTK'S*^ words to exDre^ ?;« r.io„ *5"'»nea noot. Mhor had no -h on Jing, ^!Z^ :i° ™ - --omed U> h.pliW-l'Mf ""."'■'"'« '""«"»* » 'W mechanic uappenings , his passion was for tho wnrl^ «♦ i ^"ft motto, "For to admire and for to Ll " H« K . i ^^ ^^ up his mind that he mu/tf.n ^^^ ^^°^ '"^^ u mat no must follow some profession that PENNY PLAIN 161 wonid Uke him to far places. Mrs. Hop© sug^Mted the Indian Army, while Mr. Jowott loyally recommended the Indian Civil Service, though he Volt bound in duty to warn Jock that it wasn't what it was in his young days, and was indeed hardly fit now for a white man. Jock felt that Mrs. Uop© and Mr. Jowett were wiao and experienced, but they were old. In Ixjrd Bidborough ho found one who had come hot foot from the ends of the earth. Ho had seen with his own eyes, and he could toll Jock tales that made the eoveteti far lands live before him; and Jock fell down and worshipped. Through the day, while the two boys were interned in school, Pamela took her brotlier the long walks over the hills that had delighted her days in Priorsford. Jean sometimes went with them, but more often she stayed at home. It was her mission in life, she said, to stay at home and have meals ready for people when they re- turned, and it was much better that the brother and sis- tor should have their walks alone, she told herself. Ex- cessive self-confidence was not one of Jean's faults. She was much afraid of boring people by her presence, and shrank from being the third that constitutes "a crowd." One afternoon Lewis Elliot called at The Rigs. "Sitting alone, Jcar/j Well, it's nice to find you in, I thought you would bo out with your new friends." "Lord Bidborough has motored Pamela down Tweed to see some people," Jean explained. "They asked mo to go with them, but I thought I might perhaps he in the way. Lord Bidborough is frightfully pleased to be able to hire a motor to drive. On Saturday ho has promised to take the boys to Dryburgh and to the Eildon Hills. Mhor is very keen to see for himself where King Arthur is buried, and make a search for the horn !" "I see. It's a pity it isn't a better time of year. Do- '( . |l: • II IM PENNY PLAIN » i Itn't Biddj t .oAo only known l,im f""'„ T "' "'""' "" '""K- "d »-i openly wip«l ,"r;,,;'"f''»« '-r hnn.lkorehiof •o V: :^f:c..i:'::" :"'•■'"'• .?»,'""« -'■" --' mo.". "It's wrotchod of n« f« ,„„i I don-, kno, ,h.t.; ClT,*!' '■"" T^ ""comfortable. Cham i, a „e^i,^, „, ^J"^ J '-U i> m a min- their new friend, and novt n'.- "? T'"''^'^"' '»'« of on Jean's faea " """"■'^ **« "ark, of tear. Jolif'a^k'od"*"* " '"'•' Bidl«rougb'» Christian na^e?" thilk." ' ''"''' ^o"- «'»h-d Plantagenet, I should "Keallj, Jeanr PENNY PLAIN les "Let me leo. I'm luncuing at Hillview on Friday. Majlcomeinaftor luQcheou? ThanU You must all come up to Lavorlaw one day next wook. The puppi,w aro growing up, Mhor, and jrou'ro mining all tlieir pu,^ pyhood ; Uiat a a pity." ^ ' Later in the evening, juat before Mhor'a bedtime, Lord Bidborough came to The Riga. Pamela waa resting, he expla.no,!, or writing letters, or doing aomothing oIhc, and he had oome in to pans the time of day witl them. Iho tm.o of night, you mean," said Mhor ruefully. In ten minutes I'll have to go to bed." I^Had you a nice time thia afternoon ?" Jean a/^keci. Oh, ripping! Coming up by Tweed in the darken- ing waa heavenly. I wish you had been with ua. Misa Jean. Why wouldn't you oome?" *'I had things to do," said Joan primly. "Couldn't the things have waited? Good days in De- comber are prorious, Misa Joan— and Pam and I are tune— on Saturday, to the Eildon Hills." 'mat's your Christian name, please?" Jock broke in widdenly, remembering the discussion. "Jean aaya it'a Kichard Plantagenet — w it ?" Jean flushed an angry pink, and said sharply: i^^V ^ ''"^' •^°*'^- ^ ^^ *>°'^ ^^^^^^ nonsenae." "Well, what is it?" Jock persisted. 'It's not quite Richard Plantagenet, but it's pretty bad. My name ^ven me by my godmother and godfathers ia — Qumtin Reginald Fuerbraa." ^ ''^^J^.'^ag&i® I" ejaculated Jock. "Earls in the streets of Cork I" "I knew," said Jean, "that it would be something Tery twopence-coloured." ^ T "?!^.?.°*' ^ ^*"*' -"-^ ^ i"*"^ ^^s as TOUTS," aaid Lord Bidborough— "Jean Jardine." i . 1 m ? r "•^"•Jl. ^^ PENNY PLAIN "M».rl°* '1 »^»^n'*'"/' «id Jean hurnMIr Mu-t we .lw.y, ell J.OU Lord?" MhorlZl* ,.,, "'•'"'' '»"• you." .lock Mid. of jour., isn't he?" ' "* ^""^ » '®^«ti<» bed now." ' • • • ^^'' yo" ««lly murt ^ to Bei'?.;;.." : t;.„^".: i^^-'rit^f t r"" '» ^ •» ought to ,-„ awa^ " "'^^^ '"•'"' ''™ «hiuk 1» 'M, I m going to bed, Joan. ^T,«|,„, j„ ^^^ PENNY PLAIN 166 think Qucntin Durwird or Charlie Chaplin wtrokl he th« hetter man in a fightf' Lor.l Bidbon)iigh gave tho matter «nme OMmctt thought, and decided on Quentin Durward. "I told you that," aaid Jock to Mhor. "Now, perhaps, you'll believe met" "I don't know," aaid Mhor, Mtill dotibtful. "Of course Qnentin Durward had his aword—but you know that way Oharlio haa with a stick f" ••Well, anyway, go to bed," aaid Joan, "and atop Ulk- ing about that horrible little man. Ho oughtn't to be mentioned in the same breath a« Quentin Dtirward." llhor went out of the room «till arguing. The next day David came homa The whole family including Peter were waiting on the platform to welcome him, hut Mhor was too interested in the engine and J«x!k too afraid of ahowing sentiment to pay much attention to him, and it was left to Jean and Peter to express joy at his return. At first it seemed to Jean that it was a different David who had come back. There was an indefinable change even in his appearance. True, he wore the same Priors- ford clothes that ho had gone away in, but ho carried him- self better, with more assurance. His round, boyish face had taken on a slightly gravrr and more responsihlc look, and his accent certainly had an Oxford touch. Enough, anyhow, to send Jock and Mhor out of the room to gijjgle convTilsively in the lobby. To Jean's relief Davi e«""». *» ft— all me aetails of the wonderful new lifn A«!i % u j l room h.d looked „ he had known it wtuld I«L witl ^ fire tut speAlcd a, only Joan's (ires ever s3 J 15 were lit with interest; and Jock and Mlior and Peter frrtittia v^ "7 ?" T ""^'-i' But it ;« '0*; lor a iitUa When Jock and Mhor had gone to bed .h» W"a]?v '"'"•"" "'" '^o fi- talk!^ fnd Da^ forgot all hia new importance and ceased to "buck" ^d ^etd"*" "Li'. ""'" ^'^'•^ *" ««-- money and h^w he had managed just to scrape along. ' ''.W •* <^«7"«'» else were poor as well," said Jean then It wouldn't matter." ' "That', jnst it; but it's so difficult doing thina with m« who have loads of money. It never sCsTo^, to them aiat other people haven't got it. Of .l^T Cf^tLni^v'"'"' *" ?!."■'>*' b-ttba^a'awCrd It makes mo feel a png and a fool. I think haviM akt of money take, away peopWs imagination." ^ °' ^Y"' »' 0008," Joan agreed. monev'^^hlf "■■■' '^'"'* '"■• ""'» "P «» -e to make some money I hate sponging on yon, old Jean, and Fm no« ly and— 1 ve had two things accepted." jj^«. rfl hut fell into the firo i, hor sorpris, „d do- ^K *■ PENNY PLAIN 167 ''Write! You! Oh, Davie, how utterly splendid!" A torrent of questions followed, which David answered as well as he could. ^ "Yes, they aro printed, and paid for, and what's more I've spent the money." Ho brought out from his pocket a small leather case which he handed to his sister. "For me? Oh, David!" Her hands shook as she opened the box and disclosed a small brooch, obviously inexpensive but delicately designed. "It's nothing," said David, walking away from the emotion in his sister's face. "With the rest of the money I got presents for the boys and Mrs. M'Cosh and Peter, but they'd Mter be kept out of sight till Christmas Day." Truth to tell, he had meant to keep the brooch also out of sight till Christmas, but the temptation to see Jtnin's pleasure had been too strong. This Jean divined and, with happy tears in her eyes, handed it back to him to keep till the proper giving^day arrived. The next day David was introduced to Pamela and her brother, and was pleased to pronounce well of them. He had been inclined to be distrustful about the entrance of such exotic creatures as they sounded into the quiet of Priorsford, but having seen and talked to them he assured his sister they were quiie all right. Why, Lord Bidborough had been at David's own col- lege — that alone was recommendation enough. His feats, too, were still remembered, not feats of scholarship— oh no, but of mountaineering on the college roofs. He Had not realised when Jean mentioned Lord Bidborough in her letters that it waa the same man who was still spoken of by undergraduates with bated breath. Of Pamela, David attempted no criticism. How conld he? He was at her feet, and hardly dared lift his eyes to her face. A smile or two, a few of Pamela's softly spoken sentences, and David had succumbed. Not that 111 lii 9 ^" PENNY PLAIN One cvonimr whilo P.„ T P'^ '■' »ilmce. down the book ho w.4dL ';'"'''• ' ''"'"'" '»''' "■ddenly, "What of tbeTJSSj.' P.^^'^' "^ »" lamela drew thn th^^^j • , -^anif fo« d,e a™ JeTeA "'' " "'"^ °"' «^"al time, b^ I^t^^J^iTf ttte'L'f "/" " ^'^ «—"■«<• Only w^te a .e^ rrie.',:' 'fr iT? '" "^ «« he M much relieved thon^iT i "''' °'' *''® "ko'e, It mnat be mheTa 'hot « ,it' TT"^ P"'"" 'o^^' a wife, even though 7e miJ^LVT""^ •""<=^ "f "d manage pe„„k^ '' °"f/ ■« «•>'«.♦<' »tert.in well »«y»; I see that now" ' ' ^' '^^ » ridiculous idea al- -li::'"i'ra75i;^?.,%:-.-'»'- - -..ed on indefinitelX"«1„ l^t! r?'" "f" "■«» y»" «» «» ». stewed sto^ a^^u" k W^'"''^'' ' ''"'''" -<' <^ broTheTwit^?^,,^" -^™<'7 fran., ,„„ked at her course it can't eo on in !«« •* f , ■*• "^^^ * ^^ow. Of of goin, awa^r^ lea^'^t'al^I f" "".^ '"^ *'"'"^°' has given „,e a new feeli^ l^ ,,!";''"« ?'"«- It »nte„tn.ent: I have fo„nd%ea^'hf^' '\^j ^'T, ™ the old rPstlpM hectic ]iU /.u7, Z i, " I «» hook to ^^ And vet, r ,upp„^«, "C- *; tck^'-rvf / ""t *? the throe months I promise) mf. » t, ™ "'"""'t bad tr, and take Jean wfth me^ CfEllw" '^t'"'"^ *» «-«ge th,-.,,, «, that Jean can K;"?^:^! ""° *" PENNY PLAIN tm "Why ahould Lewis Elliot have anTthing to do with It f Her brother's tone brought a surprised look into Pa- mma s ejee. "Lewis is a relation as well as a very old friend. Nat- urally be is interested. I should think it could easily be managed. The boys will go to school, Mrs. M'Cosh will stay on at The Rigs, Jean will gee something of the world. Imaginethcjoyof taking Jean about I She wiU make everything wo. th while. I don't in the least expect her to be what is known as a 'success.' I can picture her at a ball thinking of her latter end! Up-to-date revues she will hate, and I can't see her indulging in whatever IS the latest artistic craze of the moment. She is a very select little person, Jean. But she will love the plays and pictures, aiid shops and sights. And she has never been abroad— picture that! There are worlds of things to show her. I find that her great desire-a very modeet one--is to go some April to tlie Shakespeare Festival at btratford-on-Avon. She worships Shakespeare hardly on this side of idolatry." ^ "Won't she be disappointed? There is nothing very romantic about Stratford of to-day." "Ah, but I think I can stage-manage sc that it will come up to her expectations. A great many things in this world need a little stage-management. Oh, I hope my plans will work out I do want Jean." "But, Pamela — I want Jean too." Lord Bidborough had risen, and now stood before the tre, his hands in his pockets, his head thrown back, his eyes no longer lazy and amused, but keen and alert This was the man who attempted impossible things— and did them. It is never an easy moment for a sister when she rea- lizes that an adored brother no longer belongs to her. fM I jj h fill jmi ^'^^ PENNY PLAIN Pamela, after one startled look at her brother, dropped h^dT "uJ"*^/'.'^'" "" ^'^^ ^''"- «™broidery, but her hand trembled, and she mmlo Htitche« at random. Pan. dear jou don't mind? You don't think it an unfnondlr act? Yon will always bn Pam, my only si^ tor; someone quite apart. The now love wont leesi the hZth "^^ ^«^"-P^ola held out her hands to her brother- you mustn't mind if just at first . . . You see^it s a ^n^t while ago since tho world began, and wo^'vo been wonderful friends all tho time, haveTw^, liiddy' ^d And Im actually crying, when the thing I most wanted has come to pass: what an idiot f Whenever I rt at all. It all just happened right, somehow. Joan's beau y xsn't for the multitude, nor her cham>, and I won dered xf she would appeal to you. You have Ln so mTny Lf ^ ^ LT^ ^"^" ^° ^"^"'^^ ^"'^^^^ with charm and remained so calm that I wondered if you ever would IIL n ^ !• nianoeuyrmg mamaws,' as Bella Bath- gate caJls the ladies with daughters to marry, quite lost thX I ^'^'^ ^^"^ "^^"^""^ ' ^'"^ °«^^' «^m«d to see their manoeuvres, poor dears. ... And I was so thank- ful for I didn t want you to marry the modem type of S Pr,*n *f • A .\ ^"'x ^ ^'''^ *^ ^^P« y^^ wouldSme 1 fdi^-?at" "' '^^^*- ^*'' ^" "^ '^^^' «* T y\^ '^' J r'-^ '""''^ ^°"^* ^^ "^^^ wil' look at ma I sometimee think she rather avoids me. She keeps out .S{ ^t^' '^'^ ^^^^y ^^^^ addresses a remark to me." "«n? I .^ ""^^^ nientioned you to me," said Pamela, and that s a good sign. I don't say you won't have ^ aak her. Even if she cares-and I don't think she realises 1:1 PENNY PLAIN 171 yot that she does — her acnse of duty to the boys, and other things, will hold her back, and your title and possoasions will toll against you. Jean in tho least mercenary of^rca- tures. Ask her before you leave, and if alio refuses you appear to aocopt her refusal. Don't say you will try again and that sort of thing: it gives a girl a cagod fooling. Go away for a while and make no si^'n. I know what I'm talking al>out, Biddy . . . and she is worth wait in? for." "I would servo for her as Jacob aorvod for Rachel, and not grudge ono minute of tho time, but tlio nuisance is I'm twelve years older than alio is. I can't afford to wait I'm afraid sJie will tliink me too old." "Nonsense, a boy would never do for Jean. Although she looks such a child, sho is a woman, and a woman with a brain. Otherwiso she would never do for you. You would tire of a doll in a week, no matter how curly the hair or flawlo?s the .h uncompromising little Puritan ? Mercy is as plain as bread and honour is as hard as stone to Jean — but she has a witlo tolerance for sinners. I can imagine it won't always be easy to be Jean's huH'>and. Sho is so full of compassion that she will want to help every unfortunate, and fill the house with tlio broken and the unsuccessful. But she won't be a wearisome wife. She won't pall. She will always be full of rorprises, and an infinite variety, and find such numbers of things to laugh about. . . . You know how sho mothci-s those boys — can't ;ou see Jean witli babies of her own ? , . . To me she is like a well of spring-water, a continual re- freshment for weary souls." Pam3la stopped. *'iVm I making too much of an ordi- nary little country girl, Biddy ?" Her brother smiled and shook his head, and after a minute he said: *'A garden enclosed is my hive." I ^ i i:'/.::,:'.* ■:i'-if> ■1,,. CHAPTKR XVI i>«™.-d.,, short rrk?::;'H^;r'' "" " '^•'"»' Weather had little or no offeet on ' ?„• • • ^a,. happy i„ having Davidthol, "e^Kht for the depreaeing mist that shrouded >l. hi! o 2 eheerfut ""ItT"' "■""'" ^" ""''"'<' *" •>" t^^panion fo?J:;- JLt:.z:: ^^^ ;;;»■■ ">■- of niv lifA T',r,K « ^ " juu Know, all tlio years Mh:^ wo In™ 71":: r ?™;r'- ^ ''° --^h ^or hi. hen cSi^L^e^o^fs t ih^a J t :;rif ^f lit U 'i^„ 'hr,;i!!.^ - '"^ - '' '" Pictu,i^an/: Jl She broke off to bow t„ Mi,s Watson and her sister M.SS Teen.e, who passed Jean and her eo^paniL S 172 tLTi , JBf:siEKS»?iarj.,..» PENNY PLAIN 173 ikirts held well out of the mnd and eyet, after th« brief- est glance, demurely east down. "They are going out to tea/' Jean explained to Lord Bidborough, "Don't they look nice and toa-partyiah t frnr capoe over their best dresses and snow boots over thou- slippers. Those litUe black satin bags hold their work and I expect they have each a handkerchief edged ''ith Iloniton luce and scented with White Rosa Prob- ably Uiey are going to Mrs. Henderson's. She gives wonderful teas, and they wiU be taken to a bedroom to take off their outer coverings, and they'll stay till about eight o clock and then go home to supper." Lord Bidborough laughed. "I begin to see what Pam means when she talks of the lovableness of a little town It 18 cosy, as she says, to see people go out to tea and know exactly where they are going, and what they'll do when they get there." "I should think," said Jean, "that it would rather ap- peal to you. Your doings have always been on such a big scale— climbing the highest mountains in the world, go- ing to the very farthest places— that the tiny and the trivial ought to be rather fascinating by contrast" Lord Bidborough admitted that it was so, and sUence fell between them. "I wonder," said Jean politely, having cast round in her mind for a topic that might interest— "I wonder what you will attempt next ? Jock says you want to climb Everest He is frightfully excited about it, and wishes you would wait a few years till he is grown up and ready." '^ "Jock is a jewel, and he will certainly go with me whai I attempt Everest, if that time evei jomes." They had reached the entrance to Hopetoun: tJie ave- nue to the house was short "Would you mind," said 1 1^^' Pv'"'''f^"ii, * 4 'i I ^^g A: _.lgiJ&u rV^ I "♦ PENNY PLAIN Ljrd B;.lfcoro»Bh, "walking on with m. for . Ii,.l, wZ°to!!i''" ■?J,''"'„''~"' ,'""'•''« «'""« '^o '•"'', unin. priwi to bo anything but utterly natural. ^™ you Mk,ng „„ to „,rry you? But how lu^ flnshed wi* SIZ Ji '*'"' « P"-"?""'." whilo Jean, you wore going to say anything «, siH.? Ami v first propo.al and I've got on Xk^r ^""^ " ' ""' Oh, Joan I What a blundering idiot I am I !„,„!,» have known it wa» a wrong moment but T^ ). ?^ mexperien^d, and, be.i.K^ <« r^ waiting T^ r.nt ™'"^ r knew you tre the LZ^:^ ^^:^ '^o,'' aaid Jean. "Ko " i:h PENNY PLAIN 175 "Don't jou 860," said Jean, "I mnntn't Ul mj^lf care for you, for it's quite impowible that I could ever marry you. It's 1,0 pood oven Hjjoaking about such a thing. We belong to different worlds." "If you moan my ftupid title, don't let that worry you. A 8«?oud and the Social ista alter that I A title means nothing in these days." "It isn't only your title: it's everything-oh, can't you teer "Jean, dear, let's talk it over quietly. I confess I can't see any difficulty at all— if you care for mo a little. That s the ono thing that matters." "My feelings," said Jean, "don't matter at all. Even If there was nothing else in the way, what alwut Davie and Jock and the dear Mhor ? I must always stick to them~at least until tliey don't need mo any longcyr." "But, Jean, beloved, you don't suppose 1 want to take you away from them? There's room for them all. I can seo you at Mintem Abbas, Jean, and there's a river there, and the hills aren't far distant— you won't find it unhomeliko— the only thing that is lacking is a railway for the Mhor." "Please don't," said Joan. *'You hurt mo when you speak like that. Do you think I would let vou burden yourself with all my family? I would never bo anything but a drag on you. You must go away, Richard Plantig- enet, and take? your proper place in the world, and forget all about Priorsford and Penny-plain, and marrv some- one who will lirh» you with your career and bo a fit mis- tress for your grejit houses, and I'll juat stay here. The Rigs is my proper setting." "Jean," aaid Lord Bidborough, "will you tell mo— is there any other man ?" "No. How could there be? There aren't any men in Priorsford to sneak of." «/ :»». 17 mv. • % 1 E^«..i.uft.. 176 PENNY PLAIN "ThwVt LewU Elliot" Joan .tared. "You don't rappoM L*ms waste to man7m©,do7out Men are tho •/upirf.W tliin« f Don't jou know Uiat Lewia. ..." "What?" "Nothing. Onlj you needn't think he orer look. th« road 1 m on. What a horrid conversation this iil It'a a ^eat mistake over to mention love and marriaim. It makes the nicoHt people .illy. I simply daren't think what Jock wouM say if ho heard us. He would bo what l5olJa Hathpato calls *l)lack affrontit.' " "Jean, will it always matici to you more than anythinir m the world what Davie and Jock and Mhor think! Will you never care for anyone as you car© for themt" But they are my charge," Jean explained. "They were left to ma Mother said, before she went away that last time, 'I trust you, Jean, to look after the boys,' and when father didn't come back, and Great-aunt Alison died, they had only me." I ".^*°'* y°^ adopt me as well ? Do you know, Penny- plain, I behove it is all the fault it your Oreatraunt AH- son. You are thinking that on your death-bed you wiU iike to feel that you sacrificed yourself to other*—" "Oh," cried Jean, "did Pamela actually tell you about Oreat-aunt Alison? That wasn t quite fair." "She wasn't laughing. She only told me because she knew I was interested in every detail of your If- and Great-aunt Alison explains a lot of things abovt her grand-niece." Jean pondered on this for a little and then said: "Pam once said I was on the verge of being a prig, and 1 m not sure that she wasn't right, and it's a hateful thing to be. Dyou think I'm priggish, Richard Plantagenett Oh no, don't kiss me. I hate it. . . . Why do you want to behave like that? It isn't nice." PENNY PLAIN ITT be fore to odI^ Um like *Tm tonj, Jean." "Aad now jour ToioB mmnda m if 70a did think me ft prig. . Here we are at last, and I limplj doo'l know what ^ taj kept ua." "Don't say anything: leare it to me. I'll think of some lio. Do you realiijo that we roinutof behind the others?" "Is that airr' cried Jean, amaatHl. "It Lord Bidlxirough bcpan to laiif;h holplesalj. "I wondor if any man ever had such a difficult lady," he said, "or one bo uncompromisingly truthful V He rang the boll, and as thoy stood on the doorstep waiting, tho light from the hall-door fell on his face, and Jean, looking at him, suddenly felt very low. Ho waa going away, and slio might never sco him again. The fortnight he had been in Priorsford had given her an en- tirely new idea of what life might mean. She had not been happy all the time; she had been afflicted with vagiie discontents and jealousies such aa she had not known be- fore, but at the back of them all she waa conscious of a ■hining happiness, something that illuminated and gave a new value to all the commonplace daily doingsw Now, as in a flash, while they waited for the door to open, Jean knew what had caused the happinesa, and rea- lised that with her own hand she was shutting the door on the light, shutting herself out to a perpetual twilight. "If only you hadn't been a man," she said miserably, "we might have been such friends." A servant opened tho door and thoy went in together. 11 fl»f'i »>:- E»jaii h^frin at eipht, and Mrs. M'Cosh and Miss Huth^rato Ux)k their scats "on the chap," as the lattor put it. Tho two .ALiss Watsons, surprisimrly enoujrh, wcro also present. Thov ha.l coino alonff after supper wiUi a small prwcnt for .K-an. had asked to see her, and stood hngerin^r on the doors^ p refusing to come farther, Imt obviously reluctant to depart. "Just a littlo I>a^', you kr.ow, Miss Jean, for you to put your work in if you're jjoin^r o„t to tx^a, you know. No, itsnot atall kind. You've Wn so nico^o us. No, no wo won't come in; wo don't want to disturb you -just ran along— you'vo friends, anyway. Oh, well, if you put it that way . . . w( might just sit down for five minutes —if you're sure we're not in tho way. ..." And still making a duet of protest they sank into seats. A passage had Wn arnuiged, with screens Ix-twecn the door and tho window-seat, and much traffic went along that way; tJio screens bumped and bulged and seemed on tho point of collapsing, while smothered giggles were fro- quent. At laat the curtains were jerked apart and revealed what seemed to be a funeral pyre. Branches wcro piled on the window-seat, and on the top, wrapjK'd in an eider- down quilt, with a laurel wreath bound round his head lay David. Jock, with bare logs and black boots, draped m an o! 1-fashioned circular waterproof belonging to Mrs M'Cosh, stood with arras folded looking at him, while Mhor, almost denuded of clothing, and supported by Peter (who sat witli his back to the audience to show his thor- ough disapproval of the proceedings), stood at one side. When tlio murmured comments of the spectators had ceased, Mhor, looking extraordinarily Roman, held up his hand as if appealing to a raging mob, and said, "Peace, ho ! Let us hear him," whereupon Jock, breathing heavily m his brother's face, proceeded to give Anthony's oration PENNY PLAIN 183 orer C'a»ar. Ho did it very well, and tho Mhor as the Mob iupphcd appropriate j,m)wls at int^^'rvals; indeed, so much did Anthony's clot kmna worse m» thrv pui^ on, 8«, IM better stop, which 8ho (lid, u, Joan's relief, for si.o saw that her puosts were feeling that this was not an entertainment such as the Best People indulged in. •|An"" ^""'^ra- l»r, Jock< Wo to.»k a 8uhjivt, ami tric^l who louid say tfin most ohviouH thinp ulnnit it." *'Ob, n..thinp ..lovor, for -fMnlnr^s' sako," ploadtnl Miss Watson, -r vo no hoa.l for anvthin^r hut fam-v-work." UpJonkiiKH* wouM Ik, bc^t," J.K-k .kH;r«.;i; ^, a (able was^t m an.j "npJmkins" was plavod with inu.l, lauirh- ter until tho clock struck ten, and tho gut^« all rone in a body to pi. "Wdl," Hiud Mi8. Watson, "it's b.J-»'t wondor if I had a ni»rhtmaro about that^ funeral pyro I always think, don't vou, that thoro« somothinff a^-ful pafhotic ab^.ut Christmas^ \ ou never know where you raay bo bef..ro anof lur ' One of tho jniestA, a littlo rnusir-t.'aohor, said- The worst of Christmas is that it brin^ baok to one's mind all the other Christmasscs an.l the people who wore with us then. ..." ' Bella Bathpato's voio^ was hoard t.ilkini; to Mrs. M Cosh at the door: "I dinna bc^hVve in kcH^pin- (n.rist- mas; ,ts a popi.sh festival. New Year's tho tin.a Yo can eat yer currant-bun wi' a relish then. Guid-nicht, then, and see ye lick that ill la.idie for near settin' tho hoose on fire. It's no' safe, I tell ye, t., live onvwhero near him ncKi that he's bo^un thae tricks. Baith Peter an' him are fair Bolsheviks. . . . Did I tell ye that Miss Res- ton sf^nt me a ffrand feather-lwa-prey, in a present ? I've aye ha.1 a notion o' a feathei^boa, but I dinna ken how she kent that And this is no' yin o' the skimpy kind; it's 188 PENNY PLAIN fine ami ftiMj ind ■oft . . . Here, did the Lord tend MiM Jean a prmunt « ... I do<)t he's aff for guid. Weel, wool, guid-nicht" With a hoi^htoned ctilour .Tonn naiJ jfi>od niplit to hin- gumu, «'|)aratcd Mhor from hiii train, and wjnt him with Jock to IkmI. Aa »1jo went upntairs. Bella Bath^'ate'a wonln rang in her curH dismally: "I d<)ot ho'a aff for iruid." It was what ihe wantwl, of coiirBc; she had told him •o. Bur (d>o had half hopetl that ho might wmd her a lat- ter or a littlo rcmiembranco on Christman Day. Better n<»t, perhaps, but it would have Uvn srmiething to keep. She sometimes wonderful if sho had not dreamt the wene in the Hopetoun VVood«, an ask her to marry him I Jean nodded at the girl in the glass. "What you've got to do is to put him out of your head, and be thankful that you have lots to do, and a house to keep, and boys to make happy, and aren't a heroine writhing about in a novel." But she sighed as she turned away. Doing one's duty is a dreary business for three-and-twenty. It goes on for such a long tima ■ ■■..J*: KV'i. #■ X'~ »„ > Siilii CHAPTER XVIII It waa told me I should bo rich l.y the HirioB."-A Winter', Tale. J ANUARY IS always a lonj?, flat month : the Ohrist- ^ mas festivities are over, tl.e bill- are waiting to be paid the ..Gather is very often of the dreariest, spring is yet far distant. With Febniary, hope and the snowdrops begin to spring, hut January is a month to be UHirstled tnrough .'! best we can. This January of which I write Jean felt to bo a pecu- liarly long, dull month. She could not understand why. for David was at home, and she had always thought that to have the three boys with her made up the sum of her happiness. She told herself that it was Pan.ela she missed. It made such a difference knowing that the door would not open to admit that tall figure; the want of the em- broidery frame seemed to take a brightness from the room, dullness that the loudest voices did nothing to dispel Pamela wrote that the visit to Champertoun had been a si^al success. The hitherto unknown cousins were d^ hghtfu people, and she and her brother were prolonging their stay till the middle of January. Then, she Sd! she hoped to come back to Priorsford for a little, while Biddy went on to London. f ulf nT Tu^H'- ^ r^"?'^'. "^^ ^°"^^<^ S^«*«"° ^^^^ full of all things lovely, leisured, delightful people, the money and the freedom to go where one listed: no pinch- ing, no striving, no sordid cares. 191 jiS? k\?l^<^'l -X*^r«* . 192 PENNY PLAIN David's vacation was slippin^if paat; and Jean was deep in preparations for his departure. She longed vehemently for some money to spend. There were so many things that David really needed and was doing without, so many of the things he had were so wofully shabhy. Joan under- stood belter now what a young man wanted; she had stud- ied Lord Bidl)orough's clothes. Not that the young man was anything of a dandy, but he had always looked right for every occasion. And Jean thought tJiat probably all the young men at Oxford looked like that— poor David! David himself never grumbled. He meant to make money by his pen in spare moments, and his mind was too full of plans to worry much about his shabby clothes. lie some- times worried about his sister, and thought it hard that she should have the cares of a household on her shoulders at an age when other girls were having the time of their lives, but he solaced himself with the thought that some day he would make it up to Jean, that some day she should have everything that now she was missing, full measure pr. 'led down and running over. It never occurred to the boy that Jean's youth would pass, and whatever he might be able to give her later, he could never give her that back. Pamela returned to Hillview in the middle of the month just before David left. Bella Bathgate owned that she was glad to have her back. That indomitable spinster had actually missed her lodger. She was surprised at her own pleasure in seeing the boxes carried upstairs again, in hearing the soft voice talking to Mawson, in sniffing the faint sweet scent that seemed to hang about the house when Miss Reston was in it, conquering the grimmer odour of naphtha and boiled cabbage which gene ally held sway. Bella had missed Mawson too. It was fine to have her back again in her cosy kitchen, enjoying her supper and full of tales of the glories of Champertoun. Bella's face ■fffUK ,X' M 19.'J PENNY PLAIN grew even lon^^er tlian it was naturally as she heard of the ma^rn.fic-onco of that ancient honso, of the chapel, of tho ballroom of tl.o number of lK>rouKh. There were several of the^'""^' ' ^^'^'^' ^"^ '"" '^''^'''^ '''''" P^'^^^' ^ ^°^ "Whaur's he awa to the noo V ^ "Back to London for a bit, I 'eard, and later on we're joining im at Bidborough. Boiler, I was thinking to my- self wiien they were h'all talking, what if Lady B should . * ^'r'!?.'^ ^«<^'^ "i« lord«^ip '^i^ seem h'attentive Jean ?''^^^ Wouldn't it be a fine thing for Miss Miss Bathgate suddenly had a recollection of Jean as she had seen her pass that momin^a wistful face under a shabby hat. ^ "Hut," she said, tossing her head and lying glibly. Its ma opeenion that the Lord askit Miss Jean whm about^""' I'^iorsford, and she simply sent him to the right She took a drink of tea, with a defiant twirl of her little tmger, and pretended not to see the sliockal expression on Mawson s face. To Mawson it sounded like sacrilege for anyone to refuse anything to his lordship. "Oh, Beller! Miss Jean would 'ave jumped at 'im'" Naething o' the kind," said Miss Bathgate fiercely, fois I ^'J-^-^^i^^h.: ^ IM PENNY PLAIN 11 "! getting all about her former peBsimism a« to Jean's chance of getting a man, and desiring greatly to v^hampion her cause. "D'jo r ink Miss Joan's sittin' here waitin' to jumpat amau likcaoockat a grossit^ Na! He'll be a lucky man that giits her, and weel his lordship koni it. ^ho's n.) pentod up to tho oeu-holes like thao J.ondon Jeze- , bels. Her looks'll .stand wind and water. She's a kind, wise lassie, and if she condescends to the Lord, I'm sure I hope he'll bo guid to her. For ma ain pairt I wud faur rather see her marry a dacent, ordinary man like a minis- ter or P doctor— but we've mine o' thao kind noedin' wives in Pnorsford tho noo, so Miss Jean'll mebbe hev to fa' back on a lord. ..." On the afternoon of che day this conversation took place in Hillview kitchen, J^^au sat in the living-room of The Kigs, a very depresses •; tie figure. It was one of those days in which things seem to take a positive pleasure in going wrong. To start with, the kitchen range could not ^ on, as something had happened to the boiler, and ihut had shattered Mrs. M'Cosh's placid temper. Also the bill for mending it would be large, and probably the landlord would make a fuss about paying it. Then Mhor had put a newly-soled boot right on the hot bar of the fire and burned it across, and Jock had thrown a ball and broken a precious Spode dish that had been their mother's. But the worst thing of all was that Peter was lost, had been lost for three days, and now they felt they must give up hopa Jock and Mhor were in despair (which may have accounted for their abandoned 'induct in burning boots and breaking old china), and in .• hearts felt miserably guilty. Peter had wanted to g. .th them that morning three days ago; he had stood patiently waiting before the front door, and they had sneaked quietly out at the back without him. It was really for his own good, Jock told Mhor J it was because the game-keeper had said if he got ^-^^k .^,5? jr.' A ^ fr' ' V. Jl». PENNY PLAIN 19ft Petor m th« Poel woods a^-ain ho would ahoot him, and they had h^n going to the Peel woo sleep opc-nly, and Jock had lain awake and cried when everyone else was sleeping. '' They scoured the country in the da.ytime, helped hy David and Mr. Jowett and other interested friends, but all to no pur|K)9e. yi knev/ God had him I wouldn't mind," said Mhor, but I kei>p seemg him in a trap watching for us to come and lot him out. Oh, Peter, Peter. . . " So Jean felt completely demoralised this Januaiy after- noon and ^t in her most unbecoming dress, with the fire drearily, if economically, banked up with dross, hoping that no one would come near her. And Mrs. Duff-Wballev and her daughter arrived to call. It wa^ at once evident that Mrs. Duff-Whalley was on a very high horse indeed. Her accent was at its most superioi--not at all the accent she used on ordinary occa- 8ions--and her manner was an excellent imitation of that of a lady she had met at one of the neighbouring houses and greatly admired. Her sharp eyes were all over the place taking in Jean's poor little home-made frock, the shabby slippers, the dull fire, the depressed droop of her nostees snoulders. Jean was sincerely sorry to see her visitors. To cope with Mrs. Duff-Whalley and her daughter one had to be in a state of robust health and high spirits. '*We ran in, Jean— positively one has time for nothing these days-just to wish you a Happy New Year, thouZ a fortnight of it is gone. And how are you ? I do hope you had a very gay Christmas, and loads of presents. Mu- riel quite passed all limits. I told her I was quite ashamed of the shoals of presents, but of course the child .^^.^^^M^S^mii^^mk^vi^ ^- t^n^r^^ I *ii..e. ;sjl. IW PENNY PLAIN haa 8o many friends. The Towers wan full for Christ- mas. Dear Gordon brought several Cambridge friends, and they were so useful at all the festivities. Lady Twee- die said to me, 'Mrs. Duff-Whalloy, vou rrally are a god- send with all Uieso young men in this unmanned neigh- bourhood.' Always so witty, isn't she? '»*^ A '..^j"i>sjm 'if.; I '"« PENNY PLAIN WTMm if I have to ay to anyone else "Tm !.n'. i. . -: qu.ot Jay for the lirno of v,.«r - • r„, • '. ' °"* tend I don't .oc people „ow " ' '"" «"'"« '" '"'>■ ;|..««o I „.|.e n.'ni.^Zt'Zpt:^^^^^^^^^^^^^ be kept ,„ their pl„«.,, hut one no«ln't iL rude A„^ in ';;:in^y t'Lr'''™'^ -^ ^- Butf.V-,,XtooUed dinner and take, in tVui^.rZ^e:'"' " w ". '"'" Stay to tea ?" * " ' ' ^^^ ' you in February and Maroi W A *" *^"« »'>™«^ part^nlar, I'd hy and see her wfrnva tL? "i! be .Me to go then«elve«, j^, eouU.Vnd'^TouXt :,^i PENNY PLAIN 199 be a oertain consolation to tlicm to know that a friend hud ^'ratuudo. Sho wm, really quite off-han,h I think min- .. orn wwoa have often bad manner.; they <|«U ., ZX wiUi the working clasMOH. . . " wr""?!'!!'?!'.'!.''? ." ""'"'*,"'"■ '""' "■"■' "f "^- •'"''»■ Alra. Uuff-WhuIIov U.at hidy wan saving: "Yes, any day." "Fancy! And her brother too?" "All ! then wo shall soe him there. I ,l„„'t know when I met anyone with whom I felt «> instantly „t honre I™ ha. aueh easy manner,. It ™,||v i., a pleasure to mce a sontlotnan I do wish m.y lx,.y (lor.lon'ha.I «..„ morTo? m. I m s„ro they would have been friends. So good about with Well, Roodbyo, Jean. You really look holiday and ehanRo of soene. Why, you haven't been S^foryoT-IL^^^ '"^^^^^ - '^"-^ -^^ ^o wt" I come mV and without waiting for permission Pamela with her embroidery frame under her arm, as she had When Jean heard the voice it seemed to her as if eyery- thmg was transformed. Mrs. Duff-Whallev and Murid th«r sables and their Kolls-Royce, ceased to be^^i ! if zmtm;f.%m^MiLMMm *^ PKNNV PLAIN -mall. or.hnaryraU.er vul,.ur H^m*; 4.0 f:r«,>t hoTT,! -ecmc..! to f.^l that thinp* wor.» briifhteninir for .. fl«r«! "Oh, IW,!" crici Joan. Th^™ w«. mor„ „f „|irf .UK til,. vmu,r», pmp,r«l to .|„ Will... ' the'tJ;^^^';™!!,' \ '""I"''' ""■'■'"■'"" ■""'■ •'•»" »■''''■ I """" h to. " S ,^ L , r.' ''•"'■"'"■""' '" ^- '»•"' in time for lh,« r Havoyou kop. Prior»f„r,l livoly tbpourt the CI, ut^M-tm,,., y„„ «„,! v„„r ,|a,,pl„„r "^ Jon G„r.l„„, .„.j hi, ra„,l.ri,ip. frio„,U, .IcIIkI tft^ y„ "^ fellow., you know, p.rf,rl ^.-nti^mvu. But wo d ,1 mi,^ you -.ud your brother. I, .,«.r l.rd Bidborou^I u't Th "% brother haa pone to Tonrlon." KDowiiif-iy. All young men iik,. Uu,h». s„ ™v v„„ kuow restaur.,,,, an.l thoatn. and niKl,t^i;,l«lii^" ^"" <) I. I hope not," l.,u«hed PamiJa. "Aly l.n.thcr's ratli- or e„„„rd,„ary; h„ .aro,, very Ii,„e fo,^.l" Xt "ra^ The open road i, all |,<, a,k.-a born «ip,v " ^ rather rido in my car tban tramp the ro-.ds I 1,1, comforts. Jlurio, „.„, r are ..J, Tut ion Zl our way to the Continent Will you bo .bore, AZ aaake of Jean s head she went on: "Wo must t'ivo Jean a PENNY PLAIN ^oi wy ff«Hl time and havo loUi of Fartio^ Parht«s M«. I uff- Vha I.;,, vou will hrin^ ,our d.uKhtor tc^^nr^f 1 Iv^r Tl "'"/"" "•" '° '""•^''"» Y«" »'"vo boon ^ very ku..l to UH that wo .ho„|.l p,,.,ly liko to have an W"-fun.t>- of Hhow,,,,. you ..,„.. luHpitality. Do lot iia know yo„r wh.n.„U.n.. I, ..,,,,, ,J fu„/wouhl„^ t Je«n?-to .mtorta.n I'riorHfonl frion.In in I.aulon." ^or u Miomcnt Mrs. Duff Whallov lookinl vorv liko a fom. t at want.1 to Uu. ,1... .he '.nilod an.l ZiU: ol , roaJly. ., h n.Ht kin.l of you. I'm. suro Joan ^cuI.Mm, vory jn-at^ful to you. Vou'ro u kin.l . fairy godmoU ,r to tluH lit.lo Cinderoila. ()nlv J, n rn.n romembor Umt it isn't very nicv .. .„no haci t. .Iru.l^l^y C.ndoroHa had a happy ending. She wa«n't loft ,o th^ dnul^ry but rngncl with the princo in tho pah.!!..'' Its hardly pol.to surely," Muriel put in, 'to liken poor little Joan to a cindei-witch." Joan laufrhe.1 and held out a foot in a shabby slipper. I ve felt hke ono all day. It's U^ such a grubhvTy no k tehon range on, no hot water, and Mrs. .M'Cofh actually otjt of temper. Now youVo come, Pamela, it will bo all nght-but it has U^ wret^-hed. I hadn't The spirit to change my frock or put on decent 8liprx^r8, that's why I vo remin.led you all of Cinderella. . . Are you going, Mrs. DufT-Whalley. Good-bye " ^ Jfra Duff-Whalley had, with an effort, regained her temper, and was now all smiles. "We must see you often at The Towers while you are in Pr.orsford dear Miss Kenton. Muriel and I are on mr way to tea with Lady Twee^lie. She will be so JciM to hoar you are back. You have made quite a 7a^f^r yourself in our little circle. Good-bye, Jea^ we'^st^l t I if PKNNY pidMv ""wh.„'7 '^'" "■;"' *'""'"• *'•'""'• woii-,-u" when Uio riKiiim liii"" « -omothing •ricw— knew that howwr friendly Peter was wi.l, . •t h.m when he appoaro,! at th,. hack ,Ioor with a K "Z^ qu^tbn wa, too ,„,.eh for Mr. M'cT^^' i^a, sne said bifterlv *'Pfrf«-'o ~ > • hold on U, the d,K.r. Po f;-, I , , A. "f "'\'^ r "'^"'' She turned awav in hi ,e-n«^ of 'r'^" ''kel.v „, no,." take the p«roela-fro,„ U,e h„7 ""* " T(.?'*'i^'' *■*"" '" 'I"'"''' »ft<"- "bother fruitleaa sMrd. ?^ 1 /"' "-k hoi^fullv as they had dZtTSTtf iTt^:^. """" """''• «»'' •^- "■•'' ^'"t --^ howled' The sight of Pamela cheered them a good deal. fcUSta; IjgWP-y: PKNNY PLAIN tnt 7^1 ^ ^.'''" •'"^ •^^^' •«** •''^ nodded. I amd. kept tho talk goiu^ thr.,^, Uv,, luid lold tb«n io roMny (uuny .tor.rn U.«t thoy b.d to Uugh. If only .„ia Mhor. '•I»«u.r wm ho« aow th, H..nmirii»,I..'« back wo woi.l.l »»• huppv." rnZ».'"' ?. " ^''^ *';* "^ ^''"^ cWolut.,^ babind ibat « »*»«ir>i., I'an,rU wild, i-.inf in^' U» tli.. nofa. M C«jd» put bor b..td i„. r!.T fan. wore a hnmd .mile. Ihp wandon^r bon r.^turn.tl," nbo Maid mo»t doliKbffuI UnnK o„ ,.urtb an.l tho nrn. «n Mm. M C oHh H faro tbe most Uniiitiful. Witb a Hboat tbr»T aJl nudo for fbo kittfipij. ' Thorn wa* Petor, thin and dirty, hut in excellent spiritH wa^fing bis tail m violoiiUy thdt biH wholo body "SCO," Haid Mra M'CoBh, 'lio's boon in a trap, but he a ifotUm out. Pe^^r's a clivor lad." Jock and Mhor had no words. Thoy lay on the l.nolmim-covcred floor, while Mra. APCosh fotchorl hot milk, and cru«hod their fac*** affaiii.H tho little black-and- white body they had thought Umy might never ««. again, while Petor hcked hia own torn paw and their fao«^in turn. It waa wonderfully comfortable to see Pamela settle down m tho corner of the sofa with her embroidery and adc new. of all her friends. Jean had been a little shy of meeting Pamela, wondering if Lord Bidborough had told her anything, wondering if she wore angry that Jean should have had such an offer, or resentful that she had refused it. But Pamela talked quite naturally about her brother, and gave no hint that she kp.«w of any roawn why Jean should blush when his name was mentioned f. §mm^m^%^:f.t i^.*iiM^^iKi«.k^' - S04 PENNY PIj\IN ';;;1 ■: I <(i And how are all the people— the .Towotts and the Watsons and tho Dawaons? And tho dear Macdonalds? I picked np a l)ook in Edinhun'lj that I think Mr. Mac- donald will like. And Lewis Elliot— have you seen him lately, Joan V ^ "he's away. Didn't yon know? Ho went just after you did. Ho was in London ai Christmas— at least, that was tho iKistmark on the parcels, but ho has never written a word, no was always a had correspondent, hut he'll turn up one of these days." Mrs. M'Cosh came in with tho letters from the oveninc post " "Actually a letter for me," said Joan, "from London. I expect It's from that landloi-d of ours. Surely he woi 't be giving us notice to leave The Ri^s. Pamela, I'm afraid to open It. It looks like a lawyer's letter." "Open it then." Jean opened it slowly and read the enclosure with a puzzled frown ; then she dropped it with a cry. Pmnela looked up from lior work to see Jean with tears running down her face. Jock and Mhor stopped what they were domg and came to look at her. Petor rubbed himself against her legs by way of comfort. I'My dear," said Pamela, ""is there anvthing wrong." "Oh, do you remember the little old man who came one day to look at tho house and stayed to tea and I sang 'Strathairlie' to him^ He's dead." Jean's tears flowed afresh as she said the words. "How I wish I had been kinder to him. I somehow felt he was ill." "And why have they written to tell you?" Pamela asked. Jeaa picked up the letter which had fallen on the floor. "It's from his lawyer, and he says he has left me PKNNY PI,AIN f05 money. Read it, Pamelii. I don't aeom able to see the words. So Pamela read alou.l th,. lott.T that convortofl povortr- stricken Jcnn into a very wiwithy woman. Joan's face was dead white, and sho lay back as if fltunned, while Jock gav- solemn uttH(>s-Mur,>hy-n.innphinumph-mumph!'' Mhor said nothing, but stared with grave green eyes at tho stricken figure of the heiress. "It's awful," Jean moaned. ♦ 'i^"K"!^ '^"^'" "'"'^ ^'^'"^''«' "I ^°"ght >'o« wanted to be nch. thir^'""^^ *° ^ ^''^^'' '^^'^' * ^"""^ hundred a year-but "Poor Joan, buriePl® that all sor of odd things -happen to, and now fortune has played 208 L^' • >*^9,4; PENNY PLAIN t09 ono of her impiah tricks and Jmn Ima hooome a very considerable heiress. And I was thero, oddly onouph, when the god in the car alighted, sc to speak, at The Kigs. "One afternoon, just after I came to Priorsford, I went in after tea and found the Jardines entertaining a shuhhy- looking elderly man. They were all so very nice to him that I thought ho must ho some old family friend, but it turned out that none of them had seen him Ix-foro that afternoon. IIo had asked to look over the house, and told Jean that he had lived in it as a Iwy, an nivor UUc' up . „„.k,„. ,, ^jj^ ZJ'ljL^ ^' to . uo naothinir ' 'lint ' r . " """ '"^»> * """"> need ha„d»bu,,,an'k«>n!voflT' ' ".'r'"'" '"-P' ?»<" 'I toll y„ I ,l,„„."^f ,„T '"""^,'" • l""' "''« J-i" -id. f^^o ropoutod her cynical line, about tho Ia« "on TintaTk ue had lort a lot of raonoy and waute.1 a am.ll placo. •VUy blons me, Augusta Mrs B™ i .1 ■ , '. ' ' oajnofromCorlawh^rL^'L. • T"' ""'*"•' What wa« tho nam; l'3"X,'r't M '"'^'''^K'- H groat luxurjr, I thought Yes, of course Laidlaw <5l,« tr ' n-' rb""? *«^^ ''fV^the^trrs beard and oamo from Fi „ r '*'",'-'*'^- "« had a tone in hi, ™i J TK '■'•"•<■"•'«'■• the ..art-countiy ~ut. in ma loioe. Ihoy went to tho Free Kirl- .„J T i>. .. .., 1. ,. „, „ .„„^;."i*g, ■;■ wj nf% PENNY PLAIN ftis Mrs llopo took off hor glas«^ an.l amiled to herself over her rtK-ollections. . . . "Mrs. Reid wan a oico ^ture fa.r h.Kotecl/ as th,^ say here, on her son Peter. He was her chief topic of conversation. Peter's clevemeHs, Peter's kindness to his moU.er, Peter's pood looks 1 eter h hno voice: when I saw him-well. I thought we sliouid all timnk God for our mothers, for no L else will ever s.., us with such kind eyes. . . . And it's this Peter Re.d-Joannio Laidlaw's son-who has ^richod Jean. WeU, Augusta, I must say I consi.ler it rather a liberty." Augusta looked at her mother with an amused smila fhJT 1 ^u^ .'' r" ^ P"'^*"^' interfering sort of thing to do What IS the child to do with a grea7fortune ? 1 m not flfraid of her being spoiled. Money won't vul- prise Jean as it does so many people, but it may turn her into a very burdened, anxious pilgrim. She is happier poor. The pinch of too litUe money is a small Jhing compared to the burden of too much. The doing without isgood for both body and soul, but the gn.t possessions are apt to harden our hearts and make our . .uls small and r^^i,^^^^''''^^? ^^^^ *^^"«^^ ^«* Jit^lo Jean would have had the hard hap to become heir to them. But she has a high heart! She may make a success of being a nch woman! She has certainly made a success of being a poor one. ° P.? S'°!^'" ^'"^ ^"gusta, in her gentle voice, "tJiat Peter Roid wa^ a wise man to lesve his monev to Jean. Unly the people who have been poor know how to give and Jean has imagination and an understanding heart! Haven t you notices what a wonderful way she haa with the poor people? She is always welcome in the oo^ If If wi' W "", iif ■as'f »'♦ P»»"> Put on looking ™e^iril i^'^^'P^' -tood about of women child,^. .n^^U^rrrS; Zn??T',' "^ P""^ •ud sold, lay on carved taZ' ''•'"*''' '" "''"« The gctio voice ofTer ho^tr^ ^,''°' ''™'''"(f™om. louder than uaual, and .he ,b ^.''"^ "'"' '" »•«* iuBipidtoadegre^ H^l ',,M*.T^'" *'«' """"''•tion with M„. Jot^r-MSr oT"H^w°°^:-"« ' ■■"'■'"'' •^ "^ only How nioe," or "What a PENNY PLAIN fm m!I" ?i.i?^n ' .''^" ^''' ""' «-«•«« t<> cro to hc»r T ^ T^ "!'-'' * '"*^'' **^ **^''*' County," .nd 'Mt»r i-aay lwoe'•"•'>»• tt-t ^Mr.. Duff.;,,,,,,'"'', :,:":";:? "■"'• ^^-' •'"»"!•■ bof-ro l„.r „i,|, |,i,u.r «„„, " -""""-"»l *"-"«« «!.« whole noi«hi«„rL!„d " ■* "'"' """'''-''• l""'l»'"«<' 'Oh, I don't think no " u; ?» •ke wa, wl,..„ |,„r „,,,,-„' ,,,,'• ',":'' •' P"""'i'' >"ito "d J*k .,,,1 tl,c lit (I " . T "" ' '■• ' '""• « '"' "»>i.l I'm lonffi„K to hear „h.i "I!l ^'' '"" '"■'"« ''«"■• like that boy." ^' ■"*'' ""y» "I""! thi«. I ,|„ -tZ'"'^ .T- °" "'""■• '»"'• •»•v^" -aid M™ r .. iim and I qu to fc,.! ,. :/ ,1, '^ '"' '""• Jowelt. de«r," h, that Utl.™a„ „ ,„ 1 T,"'"''' "" "*"• T"". violently into U^ ™° •,.*^ ^"' "T'"''™' »"'W™ly .„J new^-Jcan-a tonuTLj " '""'""'' ">«"' "'« great «trinK." (Hi. w™.rdTc.,„ ? ■ ' """' '' " ■"' "' 'hick I told you I wa„,„, . ... """*•.•' ''^". "o tea, my dear. hepe it won't anoi T \ i''' '''""" Y<». W. Fortune hun.e^",^"'„ "' , *■■•■< '^'^ "'-st a^k, u.' "•<»e.y. ... Yea y^,; r 1^ '75 '"' " '^'^l «» have brouRht mo the atrinc^ LT\ [ """"""" ""'' Chart TEVNY PLAIN „^ ^ ^ . ^ jr. t, and ho fuwM^ him.„if out of the -fr«. Duff Whiillov row, to go, •re ant tn Ka ..... i • "" •""'' < •>ii«"<*tor« told mn frtMj that in Hit ■ri.ii'u.t -i i '"™' """ thinp." ' ''^® * highwayman or some- The conios aro a frof»I« fr^ll- » » -i uu rnaay fin rou/fi for fho am.tl, n _.:n i , •"ve a cha.^ and „ee. ^.no in.er««:;''p^prrrnd m I' ». *'* PENNY PLAIN iTftlr ™^''* "'' " '"'''*«^'' "f» «"> 'ive m Priorsford I offen wonder we stay here " ^'"rsioru. Mrs Ouff-Whalloy went "horn,: a very a.,prv woman Af tor ,i,n„er, „«„„« „;„, MuHoI loforo the SroTnTe I tnow what'll bo tl.o end of it," she s.i,l " v„„ cmirch „ „e- ihoso ariatocrnts usually ar<^„„,l Jcan'a .I.- ,j. •••**<■" you what t s, Muriel the wnv m""'' f l^r*^ is past speaking about." ^ Gofdo' Vk '^T''", "'^ ™' '"'«'"8 « ''^l-i-^ for her son Gordon (hor hands were seldom idle), and she ™Mt m W eitasperation as she talked. ' Here are you, meant, as any one ean sec for th« teen'?' "I" T'" ""'""'™''' "«'"ist who eJuldn'^' kf r N™ ™"' '''«""y *" " ^P"""". r^,jT * 1,^ *""■ P'""'' "'"' « washerwoman. IVe h" it:,^?"""^ *" """^ """"^ — - » they we™ Muriel leant baek in her chair and seemed absorbed in balancing her slipper on her toe. "oeorned in It'wt ''r °"f "•" ''"' '''<'' "^^y «^«'« yourself? Tt I w; T ). ' i!*^ ^ '■'"' " ""y '^"^■- 'l'»° yo» do, W, h.r/ '™ •** '™'" '" P"'' congratulations. We can t help it anyway. You and I aren't attracted to Jean bttt there's no use denying most people ara And whTt's ^easily tired of. I wish I knew her secr^ I Jp^ ^T~* ^'"^ "■»* <="'' *» acquired." •What nonsense MurieU I wonder to hear you. I'd PENNY PLAIN S19 like to know who has charm if you haven't It is a sillj word anyway." Muriel nhook her hoad. "It's no t . .,1 po ii.c vhen we are by ourselves. As a family we t L\'[y lack A.arm. Minnie tries to make up for it by a gre. .'ra' *{ manner and a loud voice. Gordon — well, it doesn't matter so much for a man, but you can see his friends don't really care about him much. They take his hospitality and say ho isn't a bad sort They know he is a snob, and when ho tries to bo funny he is often offensive, poor (Jordon ! I've got a pretty face, and I play games well, so I am tolerated, but I have hardly one real friend. The worst of it is I know all the time where I ain falling short, and I can't help it I fed myself jar on people. 1 once heard old Mrs. Hope say that it doesn't matter how vulgar we are, so long as we know we aio being vulgar. But that isn't true. It's not much fun to know you are being vulgar and not be able to help it" Mrs. Duff-Whalley gave a convulsed ejaculation, but her daughter went on. "Sometimes I've gone in of an afternoon to see Jean, and found her darning stockings in her shabby frock, with a look on her face as if she knew some happy secret; a sort of contented, brooding look — and I've envied her. And so I talked of all the gaieties I was going to, of the new clothes I was getting, of the smart people we know, and all the time I was despising myself for a fool, for what did Jean care! She sat there with her mind full of books and poetry and those boys she is so absurdly d^Toted to ; it was nothing to her how much I bucked ; and rMs fortune won't change her. Money is nothing " Mr-. Duff-Whalley gasped despairingly to hear her cher:biied daughter talking, as she thought, rank treason. "Oh, Muriel, how you can! And your poor father working so hard to make a pile so that we could all be **« PKNNY PLAIN nioe a^d comfortable. A„,I .v„„ were hi, fuvourite, and I TO o en thought how pr„„d l,o would have been to «6 own w,th ,h„ best of the,n. And I've worked too. Good- ne,« know, I ,o workcl lund. It isn't a, easy as it look. to keep your end up in Prior^ford and keep ^o vUIa' had to bo content with tho people on the Hill. Do .•-•- «.ppo«, 1 l,ave,,-t known they .lidn't want to come he™ all for you. What did I care for them and their daft-lTke ways and the,,- uninterestinR talk about dogs and book, and th.ngs It would have been far nicer for me to^ve made fr.euds will, the people in tho little villas. My ! IVe often thought how I would relish a tea-party at the Wat«,ns Your father used to have a say^ng^.l. .t it be.ng better to bo at the head of the eommonally than at wl n Vt ^""^' ""'' I '<■'»'' '*'« true. Mrs. Duff- Whalley of The Towers would be a big body at ZuL »T,r°T ^'PT"^' ■""* ' '^■"'" fi"" I'-" ""'y tolerated at^e Tw.eed,eB' and the Olivers' and all the others.'' Poor Mother! You've been splendid!" T. t -^"l f """'' '■"PP^' "'"" does anything matter i I m fa.r disheartened, I tell you. I beliiTyl-rriglt Money tsn't much of a blessing. I've never said it to you Wuse you seemed so much a part of all the new 1^ wi h your accent and your manners and your little do"B tlZiltiT ^''Z I-P'o cubbed m'e, and I hadTo talk loud and brazen because I felt so ill at easP TVa thought of the old days when I helped youi JlTin'th shop. Those were my happiest days-before the money came. I had a girl to look after the house and you children, and I went between the house and the sh^n and I never had a dull minute. Then we came into tZ PENNY PLAIN ttl money, and U,at helpe,! your father to ettend and extend. iTu ' *""■? '" M»"«^fi<-1-1-«»J, my word, we thought we were fine. But I aimed at Drumsheugh n,ri^ ' ™,* '""*^ "'"' y™' father. If it's rue what you say U,at none of you have charm, though I m »ure I don't know what you mean by it, if, m^ blame, laugh at me and my arabuion; for, mind you, I was oiZ^ir T-'""? ''"' .'"' ""^ ■''"'^'y laughter. Often and KlW fM° ^'"™ "■/ ''*'"' "" "'"' ">« J"" 'alk, I've thought of the happy days when I helpe,! in the shop and d.d my owi. wa^mg-eh, 1 little thought I would ever Uve m a house where we never even know when ifa washing day-and went to bed tired and happy and fell asleep behind your father's broad back " "Oh, Mother, don't cry. It's beastly of me to dis- 1 WMh I had known my father better, and I do wish I could remember when we were aU happy in the little tZy^U:Z7- "^^ " '"''' '-''' » ^'^ ^"™»' "No, but I wouldn't leave it for the world. Your father was so proud of it 'It's as like a hydro as a private ^use ..n bV he often said, in such a contented™ He just liked to walk round and look at all the cou- tovances he had planned, all the hot-rails and thi^gsTn the bathrooms and cloak-rooms, and radiators in c^e y H^"l^U ."?" T"^"^"} P''«"«'-'tipP7' he called them! He couldn't understand people making a fuss about old houses, and old furniture, grey walls h!lf t Jbling do™ Towers and he said to me, 'Mind, Aggie, I'm not going to let you grow any nonsense like ivy or creepers u| iijS':.j*L' *** PENNY PLAIN this fine new housa They're all very well for holding together tumbledown old places, but The Towers doesn^ need th«n. And I'm sure he would bo pleased to-day if he saw .t The t.mes people have advised me to Lw ivy-even Lady Tweed ie, the last time she came to tea- bnt I never would. It's as new looking, as the day he left «Vr* * "i "^""^ ^ '^«^® The Towers, Muriel?" wn.?^"~^' b^it-don't you think, Mother, we needn't work quito so hard for our social existence? I mean, stnye so hard to keep in with tlic County set. If Miss Reston can do it, surely we can." ^ «- " ^»88 ca^lo',?'"'*/w''^'">^' °^"'^"^ '''^' "^^'«« R«ton can do It just because she is Miss Reston. If you're a Lords daughter you can be as eccentric as you like, and make friends with any one you choose. If we did it, they would just say, 'Oh, so they've come off their perchr and once we let ourselves down we would nevefraise our^ves again. I couldn't do it, Muriel. Don't ask LT" ^ JVo. But wo ve got to be happier somehow. Climbing «nall dogs that lay on a cushion beside her. 'Isn't it, Ring? Isn't u,Toutou? You're happy aren't you ? A warn fire aod a cushion and some mutton-chop lx,nes are ^d enough for you Well, we've ^t all these and we want mora . . Mother, perhaps Jean would toll us the secret of happiness." "As if I'd ask her," said Mrs. Duff-Whalley. sf :i CHAPTER XX io^l?!!7®"v'"'° "^ ^^ P'***"'® '»n'J »"«"»» who muit Ure en ;r if ^fr.z - •.,; ^^v%:±z^£E: V|RS. M'COSH remained extremely sceptical about ^ A the reality of the fortune until the lawyer came from London, ^'jin's errand to see Miss Jean," as she explained importantly to Miss Bathgate, and he was such an eminently solid, safe-looking man that her doubts vanished. "I wnd say he wis an elder in the kirk, if they've onythmg as respectable as an elder in England " was her summing up of the lawyer. ' Mr. Dickson (of Dickson, Staines, & Dickson), though a lawyer, was a human being, and was able to meet Jean with sympathy and understanding when ehe tried to explain to him ner wishes. First of all, she was very anxious to know if Mr Dickson thought it quite fair that she should have the money. Was he quite sure that there were no relations no one who had a real claim ? Mr. Dickson explained to her what a singularly lonely, self-sufficing man Peter Reid had been, a man without friends, almost without interest^-except the piling up "I don't say he was unhappy; I believe he was very content, absolutely absorbed in his game of money-making. But when he couldn't ignore any longer the fact that there was something wrong with his health, and w«it to the 223 f 1 : IJJ *** PENNV PLAIN spocialirt a^ w„ told to give «p „„rk „ once, he wm completely bowled over. Life hold nothing foTh^ 1 And I didnt know," said Jean, "or we would all n. ddle of the road, or roostod in the trws like crow, rather than keep him for an «oar o„t of his ow^ hm^ He came and asked ,„ s™ Th. U,,, „„d I „„, aLidTe lldtd" f "J " "•"' "'""'' ""' ='«'■'■»""' ""at the to ^u m^ ""' ^'■- ^'"^'"'' ""■" o"- ""''» I'e came to see mo ou h,s return, that ho had eomo wiU, X that he hadn't the heart to do it when he saw how a«lh«l weakn^s ^utT "u "^ ^f ""'' "^^"^ ^t*"' »■" iH s!r,l™- [7 """ ''^'^S'''^ Ho "«« "mused ma sardonic way that you had thonRht him a poor m^ and had yet been kind to him; he had an unhaprnoZ that in this world kindness is alwiys bought He Xt.r ^? "".^ ' ''"'' I -P'-inod to yo^in „y i^l ^at he had made up his mind to leave his whole fortune ?pectmg payment You turned out to be that person and I congratulate you, Miss Jardine, most heart irTwotSd It would be as easy as possible for you, and >skldmTfl before he died and iM^S'e ooZ tTt^ 'ZlZ Imn so. But he only said, 'It's a gr^t load off ,^''2'd PENNY PLAIN ^5 to get everything settled, and it's a blessing not to havekn heir longmg to ntop into n.y sl^oc., and grudlg me^ few years longer on tl.o card.' TwJ days lateral o'pall away m h.s sleep. H. was a cnrious, hard n.an vv^in few cared about, but at the end Uu-re ;.s s<.rnethi ^^ „'X and rather patl.et.0 alK>nt bin.. I think he .l:ed Tont n'^ Thank you for telhn^r ,„o about him," Joan s.id and there waa silence for a ininute * ;;A„d n<>w ,nuy I hear your wishes?" saul Mr. Dickson, ^an I roiner. "But— has he any claim on you?" JnT\!''''^ ^' P^"^- "^ ^^«"'*^ think he ha^. He'8 exactly like our own brother." 'Then you want him to have a full share?" cadf WherMh^'i '^^ \'^ P^P'^ ^'^ '^"^^^ -°e i« a Wore) h! . ""''u'' '^'"^ ^^^^ ^^^^^'^ ^'^d died before) he came to us^his mother trusted him to us- and people kept saying, 'Why should you take him' He :: zfz '^ ^T'/\^^ ^^^- --'t the lit I we ever got. ... And when you have divided xl T wonder if you would take a tenth off etch Iha^? Ve were brought up to give a tenth of any money we hYd ?S the'v ITTa T ''\^^^^ "^"^^ ^- '' th--lve ' 1 tImUc they would, but perhaps it would be safer to take It off first and put it aside " iiKe any of us to b^ unjust stewards," she said. ■'Ko," said the lawyi no. I I' i 1 L % **^ PENNY PLAIN re«r>on«ibi.it;Vnirki.!^'^.i:ur" ^ '"' ''' "^"^ fivl^ Th"-*^ ^t-inly let ti.orn w it nntil they ore twentr- firo. Tho.r rfiares w.U accumulate, of ^nr^ and bTTer^ much laiTpor when thejr get thorn " ^ "But I don't want that," said Jean. "I want the mm away. Its bettor to give more than the strict tenth. It 8 so hornd to be shabby about giving." ^ And what are the 'tenths' to be used for?" ristTLi w ;: "* "' ""'• ^-^J-'^^j'our ♦I tjui • ^ °* °®^'6r quite certain whether thoB-blo n,«„. the tenth to bo given in chX „ Upt mifrely for ohurcho. and mi«i„„^ . . . A„d I Z^^t uLTc r""'"'^ " ^°" ""' *^ ""> ho- to Tit ™~ ; "T ^^^-''-J^'hapH you -otiocd her wh« .vou came in? I want to make lior absolutely sec,ire and comfortable in her old age. I hope ahe will ataT^th u^ for a long hme yet, but it will bo nice for her to frel that ahe can have . homo of her own whenever she like! lid juat now It waa most awfully kind of you to come all "Coming to see you is part of my business," Mr Dick- »n «pla.nod, <.but it has been a groat pleostlrot;. . sta,; weT^'iU^' ^"" "«- ''" "»- '" r--'» Oate »; "Oh, do anything yon like with it I shouldn't think wo would ever want to live in London, it's such . nou7 overcrowded plac^ and there are alwa^ hot^r. . Z the PENNY PLAIN fj^ Jiite content wi i po Kig,. If, «,ch a oomfort to feel that It 18 our own." vou' «„V''T!."''~"''^" "'■ "'''■*"' '*''»- "lot won't I want to go on ju»t a, wo were .loiog, only with no «'».pmg, .„d more troat, for ,ho boy.. We',„ „„ly ^" »„„ i r°°-- ' '"''* -™"'' f""""" i« Kning to brine you much h.pp,n«., though I doubt if you will kZ much of It to yourself." P "Oh ye8 " Jean a«ured him. "I'm going to buy mysolf . mu«,u..h »., with a ,kunk collar. IVc always S wtiur "'• ''""'" "*' ""• ''"™ '-keo/^r':! Mr. Dickson stayed to luncheon, and was treated wi.K P«t respect by Jock and Mhor. The latteThaTa noTio^ aiat wmewhero the lawyer had a cave in vhich he kept Je«.'. fortune, groat casks of gold piece» and tru^ of SST btr- "r"' 'Y '^."aek of manners on h"; SSt^f « T."^"? """^ inheritance. He was disat. pointed to find h,m dressed like any ordinary man. H^ ti tt'atrb::r '"" "" """"' '-" "^' ^ ^^ to^'a^d'hfi''""'' i""^ ^"It'^ ""-""S a" he bad cc^o '^In T ""T" ;•• P™'^'* •"•'^ her at the gata Well, Jean, and whither away 3 You look very grave Are you go.ng to tell the King the sky's falling r Somrthmg of that kind. I'm going to see Mr. M.c- donaJd. I ve got something I want to ask him." i. »uppose you don't want me tn m> wifi. voa' T I„ «. oteuse to go and see the Macdonalds. Obf but I have f ff8 PEVNY PLAIN one, Jiwt wait a momcmt, Jean, while I nm l^ick and foteh soniothing." Slio joino her money. "Ifas tlio lawyer been ?" Pamela asked. "Do you under- stand alwut things?" J«in told of Mr. Dickson'a visit. "It'M a fearful lot of money, Pamela. But when it's divi.lf'd into four, that's four people to share the resiM)nMibiIity." '•And what are you gtjing to do witli your share?** "I'll tell you what I'm not going to do. I'm not going to take a house and fill it with guests who will be con- sistently unpleasant, as the Benefactrc "^ did. And I'm not ^'oing to build a sort of fairy prhje and commit suicide from the roof like tho miiliouaire in that book Muhut something or other. And I hope I'm not going to lose my imagination and forget what it feels like to be poor, and send a girl with a small dress allowance half a dozen muslin handkerchiefs at Christmas." "I suppose you know, Jean— I don't want to be dis- couraging^that you will get very little gratitude, that the people you try to help will smarm to your face and blackguard you behind your back ? You will be hurt and disappointed times without number. . . . You see, my dear, I've had money for quite a lot of years, and I know." Jean nodded. They were crossing the wide bridge over Tweed and she stopped and, leaning her arms on the parapet, gazed up at Peel Tower. "Let's look at Peel for a little," she said. "It's been there such a long time and must have seen so many people trying to do their best and only succeeding in making ^^ and PENNY PLAIN tt9 mischief. It Mmm« to iMiy, •Nothing really mattom: you'll all be in tho Uxl** holo in I«>m than u hundroil yonni. I remain, and tli« rivor ami tln' hilU.' " **Yoa," said Painvlu, "tiny an* a ifrcat comfort, tlio unchan^png thinifH— thc?^* placid rtniiuMmokwl hill*, and tho rivor and tho ^m-y town— to \i<^ n'Htl«*«w niortuln. . . . IxK>k, Jean, I want you to tdl mo if you think tliin miniature in at all liko Dunrun Mardoiiald. Yoji romom- l)or I ankcd you to N't iw havo that snap*hot of him that you gaid wan no chttrac'ffri.Hti<\ and I wnt it to London to a woman I know who dm-n miniaturj-n w«'II. I thouf^ht Ilia mother wouM like to have it, IJut you mu*t U'll me if you think it goo, frosh-wdourod, frank, with flaxen hair falling over a broad brow. When, after a minul<', nhe handetl it back hIjo a->wured Pamela that tho likenesw was wonderful. *'Sho has caught it ('xactly, that look in his eyes a* if he were telling you it was 'fair time of day' witli him. Oh, dear Duncan! It'.n fair time of day witi him now, I am sure, wherever he is. . . . Ho was twenty-two when ho fell tliret- years ago. . . . You've often heard Mrs. Macdonald sjxjak of her sons. Duncan was the youngoet l-y a lot of years — the baby. Th(^ otlsers a o frightcningly clever, but Duncan was a lamb. They all adored him, but ho wasn't spoiled. . . . Life was such a joko to Duncan. I can't even now think of him as dead. He was so full of aboundinp- life one can't imagine him lying still — quenched. You know that odd littlo poem: " 'And Mary's the one that never liked angel •tories, And Mary's the one that's dead. . . .' Death and Duncan seem such a long way apart. Many people are so dull and apathetic that they never seem more tao PKNNY PLAIN I t- :, than hilf diTP, io thoy don't h^vo mach of a f^p when thoy go. liut DuucMii Tho Macloimhii, «rr hravn. hot I think lisuxg to thorn in jum a timtur of ^-rttitiK throujfh now. The end of tho ihy will lu.mn Duncuii. I am «lad jrou tiiuught alwut giHtiiiK tlio miniaturo duno. I'm do have mn-h nic« thoujfht*, i'auicda." Tho Mawlonaldi*' mtktim Mto.Ml on tho hatiVa of Twml a hundriMj yard* «r mo U,Iow IVh^I Tower, a H.,uaro hou«^ of grey atono in a charniinif jfardt-n. Mr. Mawlonald Umni hi* gardin an.i worUl in it diligently. It waa hi» .hx-tor, h« laid. When hi^^ mine mt ita o and a.»mion-wrifinK diffirult, when hin h.md a.hod and poopio bocamo a hurdou, ho put cm an old cx)ut and wont out to dig, or plant or mow tho graM«. llo irrew wondorful flowora, an.J in July when hi» lupins wore at their boat, ho took a partieular plwwuro in ontieiuK people out U> «« the eff«.t of their n,yal l.hi. utf.in.t »ho silver of Tweed. Ifo had boon a minister in Priorsford for elo«o on forty years and had never harl moro than t^f.O of a salary and on Una ho uM his wifo had brought up four iona'who looked, aa i ,(d woninu in fho ehuroh said, "a« if they'd »ye got thoir mout." There had always U*n a spare place at every meal for any oaiiual gue«t, and a aporo bedroom looking over Tweed tl.at was seldom empty. And there had been no lowering of tho dignity of a manse. A fresh, wiso-hke, middle-aged woman opened tho door to yisitors and »f you had aakwl hor ahe would have told you she had been in service wiUi the Mm.lonalds since she waa tiftoen, and Mrs. Macdonald would have added that ahe never could have manage«tiuri hi« wifo iimhI to nay U>foro Uio War (when hturta wcrw lif^hu^r and lauf;ltUfr cw«i«r) wljnthw Mr. Mmili.fuild wa* pnniticr of hid mm* or his flowera, aiul whtni, an muiietiniut haj»(»i'iM««l, he hml ihom all with him in thoganliii, hi?* cupuf confftif had kini full. And now it »«»iniort4int Ihhuiuh*? ho wa« hrlping hia fatlior. Ho hat! culltNl tho hij? rlump of azah-us "tho liurniu^ bunh." . . . Ho had ulway.-* Imh'u a funny littlo chap. And it wa« id tho jrard»»n that ho had said gowl-byo to him that latit time. He had U-vm twu'o woundod, and it waH hard to go Uuk a^min. 'i'here wuh no novelty ahout it now, no eagomoaa or burning zea!, noUiing but a doffl^nl jletermination to w'o tho thin;: tlirough. Thoy had stood together looking over Twinnl Ut Uie blue ridgo of Cade- muir, and Duncan had broken tho *ilenco with a question: "What's the psalm, Father, about the man 'who going forth doth mourn'?" And with his eyes fixed on the hills the old minister had repeated: That man who b««rinjj precious Med la goinjT forth doth mourn. Ht, doubtlem, brinf^ng back the •faeavea Hejoicing will rirturn. ' " And Duncan had nodded his head and said, "That's it •Rejoiciuj,' will return.' " And he had taken auotlier long look at Cademuir. Many wondered what had kept such a man as John ^racdonuld all his life in a small town like Priorstord. He did more good, he said, in a littlo place; he would be of no uso in a city; but the real reason was he knew his *** PENNY PLAIN healthwould not stand the strain. For many years h« rheum'nrj T'' ^^ a particular!, pa3 S o rt eumat..m. lie neyer sjwko of it if ho could help it and tned never to let it interfere witi. hi. work/bu h 'e^e^ had the patient look that suffering brinp,, ami hil fZ often wore a twisted, humorous H.niln „/v i laughing at his own oain H ' '^ ^'® "^""^ a/,«a t '*,""" P"'n- Jlo was now s xtv-four Hi* for their parents, but they could „„t injuco their fatZr to retire from the ministry. "r„ give „plull^^ to feel niyse f a aui»aneo," he would say- "I can^H P^ach and v.a.t my people, and perhaps «od wilTbtt" heart that goes all the way, eon.binod with heovy-liddS .«d eyes, and a habit of sighing deeply. Sho aff«w7o WterfnT "'/.r^i'^' ''"^t-g i"t« in.epr<^bl laughter in the middle of the most pessimistic utterances POMoseed she had to share. She was miserable if she a few new-laid eggs or a pot of homemade jam feclbrit""^^""'^'*'" ^''« '"'"'d »«y. "what a satisfied Her popularity was immense. Sad people came to her because she sighed with them and neC tried to die^ th«n: dull people came to her because she w2 Z.tZ offensive high spirits or in a boastful mood-nTTv^ -and hlr '1 '""' """f ■« Partieularly :Wk^ and happy people came to her, for, though she sighed and warned tiem that nothing lasW in this world W eyee shone with pleasure, and her interest was so C PENNY PLAIN 233 that every detail could be told and discuaaed and gloated over with the comfortable knowledge that Mrs. Mac- donald would not say to her next visitor that she had been simply deaved with talk about Soand-so's emmirc- ment ^ *^ Mrs. Macdonald believed in speaking her mind— if she had anything pleasant to say, and she was stnuetimt^ rather startling in her frankness to strangers. "Mv dear how pretty you are," she would say to a girl visi'tor, or,' i^orgive mo, but I must tell you I don't tliink I ever saw a nicer hat." The women in the congregation had no comfort in their new clothes until Mrs. Macdonald had pronounced on them. A word was enough. Perhaps at the church door some congregational matter would be discussed; then, at parting, a quick touch on the arm and— "Most succealful bounet I ever saw you get," or, "The coat's wortli all the money," or, "Everything new, and you look as young aa your daughter." Pamela and Jean found the minister and his wife in the garden. Mr. Macdonald was pacing up and down the patli overlooking the river, with his next Sunday's sermon in his hand, while Mrs. Macdonald raketi the gravel before the front door (she liked the place kept so tidy that her sons had been wont to say bitterly, as they spent an hour of their precious Saturdays helping, that she dusted the branches and wiped the faces of the flowers with a handkercliief ) and carried on u conversation with her husband which was of little profit, as the rake on the stones dimmed the sense of her words. "Wasn't that right, John?" she was saying as her husband came near her. "Dear me, woman, how can I tell ? I haven't heard a word you've been saying. Here are callers, I'll o-et awav ^Sfi. t/ fl ied4 PENNY PLAIN to my Tisiting. Why! If 8 Jean and Miaa Reston—thia It Tery pleasant" Mre. Macdonald waved her hand to her visitors as she humod away to put the raJce in the shed, reappearing in a moment like a stout little whirlwind. "Come away, my dears. Up to the study, Jean ; that's where the fire is to-day. I'm delighted to see you both. What a blessing Agnes is baking pancakes. It seemed almost a waste, for neither John nor I eat them, but, you see, they had just been meant for you. ... I wouldn't go just now, John. We'll have an early tea and that will give you a long evening." Jean explained that she especially wanted to see Mr. Macdonald. "And would you like me to go away?" Mrs. Maxxlonald asked. "Miss Reston and I can go to the dining-room." T "^"*/,^*'** y^^ as much as Mr. Macdonald," said Joan. ^ "It's your advice I wantr— about the money, you Mrs. Macdonald gave a deep sigh. "Ah, money," she said— "the root of all evil." "Not at all, my dear," her husband corrected. "The love of money is the root of all evil— a very different thing. Money can be a very fine thing." "Oh," said Jean, "that's what I want you to tell me. How can I make this money a blessing?" Mr. Macdonald gave his twisted smile. ^ ^"And am I to answer you in one word, Jean? I fear It 8 a word too wide for a mouth of this age's size. You will have to make mistakes and learn by them and gradually feel your way." "The most depressing thing about money," put in hia Wife, "is that the Bible should say so definitely that a rjA man can hardly get into heaven. Oh, I know all about a needle's eye being a gate, but I've alwavs a >*■ PENNY PLAIN jss picture in my own mind of a camel snd an ordinary darning-needle, and anything more hope.'f « ooald hardlV be imagined." Mrs. Macdonald had taken up a half-finished sock, and, aa she disposed of the chances of all the unfortunate owners of wealth, she briskly turned the heel. Jean knew her hostess too well to be depressed by her 80 she smiled at the minister, who said, "Heaven's gati 18 too narrow for a man and his money; that goes without saying, Jean." Jean leant forward and said eagerly, "What I really want to know is about the tenth we are to put away as not being our own. Does it count if it is given in charity, or ought it to be given to Church things and missions ?" "Whatever is given to God will ^cor.Tit,' as you put it —lighting, where you can, candles of kindness to cheer and warm and lighten." "I see," said Jean. "Of course, there an heaps of things one could slump money away on, hospitals and institutions and missions, but these are all so impersonal. I wonder would it be pushing and furritsome, do you think, if I tried to help ministers a little ?— ministers, I mean, with wives and families and small incomes shut away in country places and in the poor parts of big towns? It would be such pleasant helping to me " "Now," said Mrs. Macdonald, "thaf s a reaJly sensible Idea, Jean. There's no manner of doubt that the small salaries of the clergy are a crying scandal. I don't like ministers to wail in the papers about it, but the laymen should wail until things are changed. Ministers don't enter the Church for the loaves and fishes, but the labourer M worthy of his hire, and they must have enough to liv^ on decently. Living has doubled. I couldn't manage as thmgB are now, and I'm a good manager, though I says -I -1 i J '■M PENNY PLAIN it aa shouldn't The fight I've had all my life nobody will ever know. Now that we have plenty, I can talk about it. I never hinted it to anybody when we were struggling through; indeed, we washed our faces and anointed our heads and appeared not unto men to fast! The clothes and the boots and the butcher's bills I It's pleasant to think of now, just as it's pleasant to look from the hilltop at the steep road you'vo come. The Iwys some- times tell me that they are glad we wore too poor to have a nurse, for it meant that they were brought up with their father and me. We had our meals together, and their fathed helped them with their lessons. Indeed, it's only now I realise how happy I was to have them all under one roof." She stopped and sighed, and went on again with a laugh. "I remember one time a week before the Susten- tation Fund was due, I was down to one sixpence. And of course, a collector arrived! D'you remember that, John? . . . And the boys worked so hard to educate themselves. All except Duncan. Oh, but I am glad that my httle laddie had an easy time— when it was to be such a short one." "He always wanted to be a soldier," Mr. Macdonald said. "You remember, Anne, when you tried to get him to say he would be a minister? He was about six then, I think. He said, 'No, it's not a white man's job,' and then looked at me apologetically, afraid that he had hurt my feelings. When the War came he went 'most jocund, apt, and willingly,' but without any ill-will in his heart to the Germans, " 'He left no will but good will And that to all mankind. . . ,' " Mrs. Macdonald stared into the fire with tear-blurred eyes and said: "I sometimes wonder if they died in vain. PENNY PLAIN 997 Clat^'h^t!^ ""T ^''^^ '''* * ^'^'' ^""^ «°« ^»° ^« old. nl«.^ l^' discontent, wild extravagance in some paccH, children starving in others, w^men mad for pleasure, and the dead forgotten already except by the mothers-the mothers who never to their dying^daT wilt hTart" f ■''"' ^^ "'^^'""^ " --^d plying Ver hearts and a cry ns.ng to their lips, 'Afy son! My son!' " fico of love an,I innocence can never l>e in vain. Nothing Z eZt :l '""'"'• ''^^' ^"""^^'^^'^ dead will savf the country a^ they saved h i>efore. Those young lives have gone in front to light the way for us " ^_^Mrs. Macdonald took up her soc-k again with a long «an John, but I never had any mind. No, Jean, you needn't protest so politely. I'm a good housewife, Ind I admit my shortbread is 'extra', as^Duncan used C say Duncan was very sorry as a smaJl boy that he had left heaven and eome to stay with us. He used to say with a nft:^ \r' ^"""'^'^ ''''''' I don't know where he pi^ed up the expression. But what I was going to say I w«^ r^r V7i ^ wretchedly provoking. This morning I was really badly provoked. For one thing, I was very bnsy doing the account of the Girls' Club (you know Sh«^«Tl :, f/ ""^ "P' '^^ ^^d. Cheer me up! me «l7 I ^T^'\^ P^^'^'"' ^"* ^* ^*^"'d have done me all the good in the world to take that woman by her Kt'tL r'..'."' "^' '^^ ^^P^^^^ -^ «f the room She sat there breathing opulence, and told me how hard it was for her to livc^she, a lone woman with six serves to wait on her and a car and a chauffeur ! d.' ... I could have told her that surely it wasn't wa^fe the men were thinking about whcm they poured out their youth liko wine that aho and her like might live and hug their bank books." Mr. Macdonald hud moved from his chair in the window, and now stood with one hand on the mantel-shelf looking into the fire. "Do you remember," he said, "that evening m Bethany when Mary took a box of spikenard, very costly, and anointed tlie feet of Jesus, so that the odour of the ointment fiUe.l tho house? Juda^that same Judas who carried the bag and was a robber— waa much concerned about tho waste. Ho said that the box might have been sold for three hundred pence and given to the poor. And Jesus, rebuking him, said, 'The poor always ye have with you, but Me ye have not always.' » He stopped abruptly and went over to his writing-table and made aa though he were arranging papers. Presently he wid Anne, you'vo betm here." His tone was accusing. Unly writing a post card," said his wife quickly. "I can t have made much of a mess." She turned to her visitors and explained: "John is a regular old maid about his writing-table; everything must be so tidy and unspotted." *^ "Well, I can't understand," said her husband, "why any one so neat handed as you are should be such a filthy creature with inL You seem positively to sling it about/' Wei], said Mrs. Macdonal.l changing the subject, .i uJ-Tl !^^^ °^ ^^^P^°^ ministers, Jean. I've often thought if I had the means I would know how to help A cheque to a minister in a city-charge for a holiday; a cheque to pay a doctor's bill and ease things a little for a worn-out wife. You've a great chance, Jean." I know," said Jean, "if you will only tell me how to •*.,,ii:;'w/ PENNY PLAIN 299 ^ ;'I'll soon do that," i»id practical Mrs. Maodonald, 1 vo got several in my mind this moment that I just ache to give a hand to. But only the very rich can help. You M t m decency take from people who have only enough to go on with Now, if you'll excuse m^ 1 11 see If Agnes is getting the tea. I want you to taste my rowan and crab-apple jolly. Miss Keston, and if you like it you will take some home with you." As they left the Manse an hour later, laden with gifts, Pamela said to Jean, "I would rather be Mrs. Mao- donald than any one else I know. She is a practising Christian If I had done a day's work sucli as she ha^ done I thmk I would go out of the world pretty well pleased with myself." ^ ^ "Yes," Jean agreed. "If life is merely a chance of gaming love she will come out with high marks. Did von give her the miniature?" ^ "Yes, just as we left, when you had walked on to the gate with Mr. Macdonald. She was so absurdly grateful she made me cry. You would have thought no one had ever given her a gift before." "The world," said Jean, "is divided into two classes, the givers and the takers, ^thing so touches and pleases and surprises a 'giver' as to receive a gift The 'takers' are too busy standing on their hind legs (like Peter at tea-time) looking wistfully for the next bit of cake to be very appreciative 0: the biscuit of the moment " 'Bless me!" said Pamela, "Jean among the cynics!'' \l\ w I' t ml CHAPTER XXI "Tho •our. dark cottaRe, batter M an.i decay 'd, J^U, in the I.Kht throuKh chink, that tirr« ha. made mroHKcr by wonkneM wiwr men bfoon., A« they draw near to their eternal home: Uaving the old, both world, at once they riew Ihat atand upon the threshold of the new." Edmund Waixm. /^NE day Pamela walked down to Hopetoun to V-/ lunch with IVfrs. Hope. Au^niHta had gone away on a short visit and Pamela ha.I promised to spend as much time &a possible with hor mother. ^^ "Vou won't be here much longer," Mrs. Hope had said. %iTu J^',"""'^ ^'"^^ ^^^*' '"^ «** .V"" '^an spare, and TJ !i .^m^ ^^^ ^"^""^ P^*'*'-^' ^"^'" «h« taJ finished defiantly, "I'll miscall my neighbours if I feel inclined " • 1 ""^^ F'^'bruary now, and there was a hint of spring m the air. The sun was shining as if trying to make 4 for the days it had missed, the green shoots were pushing daringly forth, and a mavis in a holly-bush was chirping loudly and cheerfidly. Tomorrow they might be plunged back into winter, the green things nipped and dis<:oura^d, the birds silent— but to-day it was spring. Pamela lingered by Twee,lside listening to the mavis, looking hack at the bridge spanning the river, tbe church steeple high against the pale blue sky, the little town pouring Its houses down to the water's edge. Hopetoun Woods were still bare and brown, but soon the iVrchoi would get their pencils, the beeches would unfurl uny leaves of hymg green, and the celandines begin to poke 240 ,ri;;- to PENNY PLAIN ui their yellow head* through the carpet of ]aks, did not even notice the sunshine; her eyes were with her heart, and that was far away across tlie black dividing sea in the last resting. places of her three sons. Wild laddies thev had been never at rest, never out of mischief, and now-"a' quaitit noo m the grava" She turned to greet her visitor with her usual whim- sical smile. She had grown very fond of Pamela; thev were absolutely at ease with each other, and could enjoy talking, or sitting together in silence. To-day the conversation was brisk between the two at luncheon. Pamela had been with Jean to Edinburgh and Glasgow on shopping expeditions, and Mrs. Hope was keen to hear all about them. ''I could hardly persuade her to go," Pamela said. Her argument was, "Why get clothes from Paris if vou can get them in Priorsford?' She only gave in to pl^ me, but she enjoyed herself mightily. We went first to Jidinburgh-my first visit except just waiting a train." And weren t you charmed ? Edinburgh is our own town, and we are inordinately proud of it. It's full of steep streets and east winds and high houses, and you ^t move a step without treading on a W.S., but it's a nne place for all that" "It's a fairytale place to see," Pamela said. "The ii ! I *♦« PENNY PLAIN castle at min«et, tho «udd«n glinipse» of tho Forth, Holy- rood dronniing in tho miHt— thm- are pietun-s that will remain with one aiwaya. liut (Jla.H^w " ^ '*I know alnicMt nothing of (Mu-srow," naid Mrs. Hope, but I liko th«. |M.,.f>lo timt i'ouxo from it Thej are not •o dovounil l>y ^r,.„tility »m our KdinlmrKh friends; thev «ro more living, nioro liunian. . . ." "Aro Kdinhtirgh pooplo very rolined?" "Oh, son.o of thorn tan hardly see out of their eyea for gontihty. I delight in it mynelf, though I've never attained to ir. I'm tol.l you see it in its finent flower in the suburlw. A friend of mine was going out by train to Colinton, and hI.o overheard two girls Ulking. One said I was at a d«'nco \vHt night.' The other, rather con- descendingly, replied, 'Oh, really I And who do you donoe with out at Colinton?' 'It .lependn,' said the first girl. Lest night, for instance, I was up to my neck in advo- cates. . Priorsford's pretty genteel too. You know the really genteel by the way they say 'Good-bai.' The rest of us who pride ourselves on not being provincial aay— you may have noticed— 'Oood-ba— a.' " Pamela laughed, and said she had noticed the superior accent of Priorsford. "Jean and I were much interested in the difference IjBtwoen Edinburgh and Glasgow shops. Not in the things Uiey sell— tho shops in both places are most excellent— but in the manner of selling. The giria in the Edinburgh •hops aro nice and obliging— the war-time manner doesn't ieem to have reached shop-assistants in Scotland, luckily —but quite I^ondonish with their manners and their Moddom.' In Glasgow, they give one such a feeling of personal interest You would really think it mattered to them what you chosa They delighted Jean by remarking as she tried on a hat, 'My, you look a treat in that!' We ^ught a great deal more than we needed, for we hadn't i:l PKNNY PLAIN tiS the hflart to rofii^** whit whh hnmpht with such euthiisiuHm. T dcn't know what it '\» nlnnit that hat, but it'* awful niw Hortiohow. Distinctive, if you know what I mean. I think wluu you pet it homo you'll like it awful well ' Who woul.j refuue a Imt'iiftor Huch a rccomrnendntion ?" "Who indwul! Oh, they're a hearty [jcoplo. lias Jean got the furcoat «ho covet(ir.\Vi.„||,.; ..lo.„„„l,l. »,r„,„ ,l,at n,.v..r know., «|„.„ i, j, ^ton Jho ...,,.!,, |.„v„ d,.n„ „l„„„, „„,.„,i .s,„ „i'| ";^^ bo N,u 1, I „1P, „r .-..n.c.st.M I.|„y,l (l«„r^,'. wv|,,, ^.j Wl,at ghc rails The Counlv' to r,.c„Kni»o her, ai„l marry .hTwHl """"«'' "'r^ p.-r«.ver„„..c. and I'vo no doubt Ui)w.r ,1. I have a likinR for tb,, wo„,an, cainiiallv if I conmsatton. Mrs. Jowett is a sweet woman, hut to me he ., ,ko a vaouum cleaner. When IVe talked to b« fT ctean«l-a .sort of empty, yet swollen feeling. I never can ,,„der..tand how .Mr. .Jowet, has gone through life wuh her and kept bis ,«^n. lint tl-er^'a no dltt ii hko sweet, eent.mental women, and 1 ,„pp„,,e they ai* ro8tfnl ,n a house. . . . Shall we have eoffee in the LT ing-room I It's cosier." ^ei° *;.-'i'3r«'^'° "?^ «'«'«■' -io*" '-fore the fire rv.j con.eatedlj sn^ul, Pamela .diy readied out for a I'KNNV PLAIN t*a book .„d r«,l . Ii„|„ h«r. „n,| ,h„„ „ j,, .j , ,,„ coffee whilo hrr l,o,.m. r..,k«| i„t-, tho fir... Tl,.. r.»n. n..rk on tlio r.«i„. ll„„utif„I „l,l rMnH, .(,«.! „™i,„, ™i„" .'"• "^ "'^ --f-,„l,l.. (•|,„„.r,i 'l,| „„,l ,|„ J Nothing l,.,k,«l out „f ,,|.,„., f,„ „,„ „„,„ ^i,, . proportu.,. ..k „1| .,,„ ,„,„„,,„,,i«_,|,„ f»„,iK. r bu^■^ .!,„ (iu„.„ Anno ,.„l,i„„,^ u>o minia.urc, J.o Vic- There .»n.. ch,.„„ ,„ , ,«.„, fnruUM Lu .h.^^room., Um^l. U Ih. crru- ,n .vry jHail ,„ ,1„, ,H.ri„J ,Uo«„ Much n,„re human i, ,1„. „«,„. ,„„, U fnll „ ,l,inp. uZ another. The ottoman work.nl « laUrion.lv hy a ^ de a Q,„^, Anne ohuir. over „ho.,o f„,l,.,| «o„ -work ^ . fapff iK^nty ha,i ,.ri..k«l her daintv finp-r^and boU^ of the worker, wo,. IIo,«.,: w,,ile l,v PantwaV X J^a hre-sereen «i.oh«l by A„g,.,a, 'the last o. ,ho "I wonder," aaid Mr,. Hop.., breaking tho silence "what ha, become of I.,„i, KlliotJ I haven't hear. Trom h.m^,.neo he went away. Do you know where ho i, ju.t Pamela bliook her head. *m.y don't you marry him, Pamela?" For a very p,)od retison— ho hasn't a.slcod mP " "Hoots I'' said Mra. Hope, %a if that mattered!" m\ :-iar::'W^c:' f46 PENNY PLAIN f| '1 Pamela lifted her eyebrows. "It is generally oonaidered rather neoeswuy, isn't itf she asked mildly. "You know quite well that he would ask you to-morrow if you gave him the slightest encouragement. The man's afraid of you, that's what's wrong." Pamela nodded. "la that why you have remained Pamela Reston « My dear, men are fools, and blind. And Lewis is modest as well. But . . . forgive me blundering. I've a long tongue, but you would think at my age I might keep it "No, I don't mind your knowing. I don't think any one else ever had a suspicion of it And I thought myself I had long since got over it. Indeed, when I came here I was contemplating marrying some one else." "Tell me, did you know Lewis was here when you came to Priorsford ?" "No— I'd completely lost trace of hinu I was too proud ever to inquire after him when he suddenly gave up coming near us. Priorsford suggested itself to me as a place to come to for a rest, chiefly, I suppose, because 1 had heard of it from Lewis, but I had no thought of fleeing him. Indeed, I had no notion that he had still a connection with the place. And then Jean suddenly said ai3 nama I knew then I hadn't forgotten; my heart leapt up m the old unreasonable way. I met him— and thought he cared for Jean." "Yes. I used sometimes to wonder why Lewis didn't fall m love with Jean. Of course he waa too old for her, but It would have been quite a feasible match. Now I know that he cared for you all the time. Oh, I'm not surprised that he looked at no one elsa But that you should have waited. . . . There must have been so many suitors. ..." "^ "A few. But some people are bom faithful Anyway, PENNY PLAIN «47 I'm so glad that when I thought he cared for Jean it made no difference in my feelings to her. I should have felt so humiliate namea to Mrs. IIopo. FiguraXely sT^ Mrs. Hope went on. "I dare say you have heard about^my boys. They all died within ihree yeL and A^ata and I were left alone. Generally I ZtZ^ but to^ay-perhaps because it is the flrstVS d.y^'and fl.ey were so young and full of promis^it Lms as"f I must speak about them. Do you mind?" ' "*°" " '* aI>^St^ his -^ny Jock with his warm heart and his sudden rages and hm^TlMeT'Sr"' ^'"' •'"<"■'« reminda'Se :' mm juat a little.) There never was anyone more lovnhlp nti f r' ""^ '" " ^"""'^ raid-two in a y^' Their father was gone, and for that I was thankful Xe ^^^^' , "^"*, ™' » '■°«l' in a weary land to me- nobody knows what Augusta is but her mother We had Sandy, our baby, left, and we managed to go on But Sandy was a soldier too, and when Z Boer War "broke out. of course he had to ge. I knew when lii"^™': i^iK. •a -.•••- PENNY PLAIN S49 to him that whoever came back it wouldn't be my laddie. He waa too shining^eyed, too much all that was young and innocent and brave to win through. . . . Archie and Jock were men, capable, well equippetj;ers, and n 8 high time you got a rest Every one should get a are nearly ti^at of a>ursc. Some day that happy state of affairs will be. Now the kettle's almost boiling, and 1 ^going to make you a cup of tea. Where's the caddy V* Ihere was a spoonful of tea in the caddy, but in the PENNY PLAIN cupboard thorn was onlj the heel of a loaf — do buttt no cJioeHc, DO jam. "I'm at tlio end of my tctltor," Miaa Abbot admitto "And unlcM I touch tho money laid away for my rcc I havim't a penny in the houno." "Thon/* said Joan, "it wan high timn I turned up 8ho hoat(Hl tlto toaput and pokcnl the bit of coal into blazo. "Now hero'* your tea" — ^«ho rearhe*! for hor hj that lay on tlio tabh« — "and hero'a aonio money to go < with. Oh, ploaae don't let's go ovor it all again. Do, n dear, bo roaitonahlo." "I doubt it's charity," said poor Misa Abbot, '*but «annot refuse. Indee bulU;r, dmittfxl. nj rent, led up." 1 into a Itor htif^ to go on Do, my "but I in. . . . k1 when awful — I didn't f» seeing morning I I knew ton me." t money r to-day. 1 oculist, >u know, keeping trouble, f being ig a nico sure and Iter and Ik along len drop D of the e if you y knows PF.NNY PLAIN fsg anything ibout thii but you and me. I shan't even toll Mr. Mafdonald. . . . You will get papers and things to sign, I oxpt-ot, from the lawyer, and if you want anything cxplaineij yi.u will come to Tho Uigs, won't you ? IVrbafM you would rather I didn't come hero much. Ooml moroing, Afiss Abbot," and .lean went away. "For all tho world," M Misa Abbot .laid to herself, "as if lifting folk from tjio miry day and setting their feet on a rock was all in tho day's work." Tho days slipjied away and Marcli came and David « h home again; Huch a smart David in new clothe* and C Uo Shakespeare's Town Clerk) "everytliing handsome t^'.^mt him." Ho immediately began to enUce Jean into Hponding money. It was absur.l, ho said, to havo no one but Mrs. M'Cosh: a smart housemaid must be got. ^^ "She would only worry Mrs. Af'Cosh," Jean protested, and there isn't room for another maid, and I hate smart maids anyway. I like to help in Uie house myself." "But that's so absurd," said David, "with all your money. You should enjoy life now." "Yes," said Jean meekly, "but smart maids wouldn't help mo to-quite tho opposite. ... And don't you get ideas into your head about smartness, Davie. The Rigs could never bo smart: you must go to Tho Towers for that. So long as we live at Tho Rigs wo must bo small plain people. And I hope I shall live here all my life— and so that's that I" David, greatly exasperate^l, bounded from his chair the better to harangue his sister. "Jean, anybody would think you were a hundred to hoar you talk! You'll get nothing out of life except porhapa a text on your tombstone. *8he hath clone what she could,' and that's a dull prospect. . . . Why aren't I. 860 PENNY PLAIN you more like other girls? Why don't you do your hair the new way, all sort of — oh, I don't know, and wear earrings . . . you know you don't dress smartly." "No," said Jean. "And you haven't any tricks. I mean you don't try and attract attention to yourself." "No," said Jean. "You don't talk like other girls, and you're not keen on the new dances. I think you like being old fashioned." "I'm afraid I'm a failure as a girl," Jean confessed, "but perhaps I'll get more charming as I get older. Look at Pamela!" "Oh, Miss Reston," said David, in the tone that ho might have said "Helen of Troy."«. . . "But seriously, Jean, I think you are using your money in a very dull way. You see, you're so dashed helpful. What makes you want to think all the time about slum children ? . . . I think you'd better present your money all in a lump to the Government as a drop in the ocean of the National Debt." "I'll not give it to the Government," said Jean, "but we may count ourselves lucky if they don't thieve it from us. I'm at one with Bella Bathgate when she says, *I'm no verra sure aboot thae politicians, Liberal or Tory.' I think she fears that any day they may grab Hillview from her." "Anyway," David persisted, "we might have a car. I learned to drive at Oxford. It would be frightfully useful, you know, a little car." "Useful I" laughed Jean. "Have you written any more, Davie?" David explained that the term had been a very busy one, and that his time had been too much occupied for any outside work, and Jean understood that the stimulus ?■« : •* W ''f^i^M.mitMxm^.tm.^^^.%^'' PENNY PLAIN f61 of poverty having been removed David had fallen into eaaior ways. And why not— at nineteen? "We must think about a car. Do you know all about the different makes? We mustn't bo rash." David assured her that ho would make all inquiries, and went out of the room whistling blithely. Jean, left alone, sat thinking. Was the money to bo a treasure to her or the reverse? It was fine to give David what he wanted, to know that Jock and Mhor could have the best of everything, but their wants would grow and grow ; simple tastes and habits were easily shed, and luxurious ways easily learned. Would the possession of money spoil the boys? She sighed, and then smiled rather ruefully as she thought of David and his smart maids and motors and his desire to turn her into a modern girl. It was very natural and very boyish of him. "He'll have the face ett off me," said Jean, quoting the Irish R.M. Richard Plantagenet hadn't minded her being * old fashioned. It was odd how empty her life felt when it ought to feel so rich. She had the three boys beside her, Pamela was next door, she had all manner of schemes in hand to keep her thoughts occupied— but there was a great want somewhere. Jean owned to herself that the blank had been there ever since Lord Bidborough went away. It was frightfully silly, but there it ^^as. And probably by this time he had quite forgotten her. It had amused him to imagine himself in love, something to pass the time in a dull little town. She knew from books that men had a roving f>incy— but even as she said it to herself her heart rebuked her for disloyalty. Richard Plantagenet's eyes, laughing, full of kindness and honest— oh, honest, 'she was sure!— looked into hers. She thrilled again as she seemed to feel the touch of his hand and heard his voice saying, "Oh, Penny-plain, are you going to send mo I f i i! w f ''■ i -'It i ■ r M 26t PKNNY PLAIN away I" Why hadn't he written to congratulate her on the fortune ? He might have done that, surely. . . . And Pamela hardly spoke of him. Didn't seem to think Jean would be inter3flted. Jean, whoso heart leapt into her throat at the mere casual mention of his name. Jean looked up quickly, hearing a step on the gravel. It was Pamela sauntering in, smiling over her shoulder at Mhor, who was swinging on the gate with Peter by his side. "Oh, Pamela, I am glad to see you. David says I am using the money in such a stuffy wav. Do you think I am?" "What does David want you to do?" Pamela asked, as she threw off her coat and knelt before the fire to warm her hands. " 'To eat your lupper in a room Blazing with lights, four Titiana on the wall And twenty naked girls to change your platef " Jean laughed. "Something like that, I suppose. Any- way he wants a smart parlour-maid at once, and a motor- car. Also he wants me to wear earrings, and talk slang, and wear the newest sort of clothes." "Poor Penny-plain, are you going to be forced into being twopence coloured? But I think you should get another maid ; you have too much to do. And a car would be a great interest to you. Jock and Mhor would love it too: you could go touring all round in it. You must begin to see the world now. I think, perhaps, David is right. It is rather stuffy to stick in the same place (even if that place is Priorsford) when the whole wide world is waiting to be looked at. ... I remember a dear old cure in Switzerland who, when he retired from his living at the age of eighty, set off to see the world. He told me he did it because he was quite sure when he entered PENNY PLAIN s^ heaven's gate the first question God would put, to him would be, 'And what did you think of My world f and he wanted to be in a position to answer Intelligently. He was an old dear. When you come to think of it/ii 18 a little ungrateful of you, Jean, not to want to taste all the pleasures provided for the inhabitants of this wrth. Ihere is no sense in useless extravagance, but there is a certain fitness in things. A cottage is a delicious thing, but It 19 meant for the lucky people with small means; the big houses havo their uses too. That's why so inany "oh per pie havo discontented faces. It's because to them £200 a year and a cottage is 'paradise enow' and they are doomed to the many mansions and the many servants." ^i^j Jean nodded. "Mrs. M'Cosh often says, 'There's mony a lang gant m a cairriage,' and I dare say it's true. I don't want to be ungrateful, Pamela. I think it's about the worst sm one can commit-ingratitude. And I don't want to be stuffy, either, but I think I was meant for small ways." "Poor Penny-plain! Never mind. I'm not goimr to preach any more. You shall do just as you please with your life. I was remembering, Jean, your desire to go to the Shakespeare Festival at Stratford in April Whv not motor there? It is a lovely run. I meant to taki you myself, but I expect you would enjoy it much better If you went with the boys. It would be great fun for you all, and take you away from your philanthropic efforts and let you see round everything clearly." Jean's eyes lit with interest, and Pamela, seeing the light m them, went on: "Everybody should make a pilgrimage in spring: it's the correct thing to do. Imagine starting on an April morning, through new roads, among singing birdb and S64 PENNY PLAIN ) 'tl cowslips and green new leaves, and stopping at little inns for the night — lovely, Jean." Jean gave a great sigh. "Lovely," she echoed. Lovely, indeed, to be away from housekeeping and poor people and known paths for a little, and into leafy Warwick lanes and the rich English country which she had never seen. "And then," Pamela went on, "you would come back appreciating Priorsford more than you have ever done. You would come back to Tweed and Peel Tower and the Hopetoun Woods with a new understanding. There's nothing so makes you appreciate your home as leaving it. . . . Bother I That's the bell. Visitors 1" It was only one visitor — ^Lewis Elliot "Cousin Lewis!" criefl Jean. "Where in the world have you been ? Three whole months since you went away and never a word from you. You didn't even write to Mrs. Hope." "No," said Lewis; "I was rather busy." He greeted Pamela and sat down. "Were you so very busy that you couldn't write so much as a post card ? And I don't believe you know that I'm an heiress?" "Yes; I heard that, but only the other day. It was a moat unexpected windfall. I was delighted to hear about it." Jean looked at him and wondered if he were well. His long holiday did not seem to have improved his spirits; he was moro absent-minded han Ubual and dia^ appointingly uninterested. "I didn't know you were back in Priorsford," he said, addressing Pamela, "till I met your brother in London. I called on you just now, and Miss Bathgate sent me over here." "Is Biddy amusing himself well ?" Pamela asked. "I should think excellently well. I dined with him PENNY PLAIN ggg one night am' he .eemd in great spirits. He «emed to be very mu,.h ,n request. Ho wanted to ,.ko me about a bU but I ve Ro out of Ix,n,ion ways. I don't seem to know 7^f,l ": I."'"'" •" '^'^ "O" generation and I ya™ "y1% h T T'" '^ '" '">• ""> '««. "»' Jean said: visit, and then you <.an ro over to IIillvi"nteel) and a gorgeous spread as well — Jock confided U' me that he thought there might even be sandwiches; and 1 * ter being invited has lillcd Mhor's cup of happinese to the nm. So few people welcome that marauder." "I wish I could Ik) there to hear the conversation," said Pamela. "Jock with his company manners is a joy." An hour later Lewis Elliot accompanied Pamela back to Hillvicw. "It's rather absurd," ho protested. "I'm afraid I'm inflicting myself on you, but if you will give me half an hour I shall be grateful." "You must tell mo about Biddy," Pamela said, as she sat down in her favourite chair. "Draw up that basket chair, won't you ? and be comfortable. You look as if you were ju.*^' going to dart away agai i. Did Biddy say any- thing in particular?" "He told me to come and set ou. ... I won't take a chair, thanks. I would rathci stand. . . . Pamela, I know it's the most frightful cb ek, but I've cared for you exactly twenty-five years. You nc • had a notion of it, I know, and of course I never said . nything, for to think of your marrying a penniless, dreamy sort of idiot was absurd — you who might have married anybody ! I couldn't stay near you loving you as I did, so I went right out of your life. I don't suppose you ever noticed I had gone, you had always so many round you waiting for a smile. ... I used to read the lists of engagements in The Times, dreading to see your name. No, that's not the right word, because I loved you well enough to wish happiness for you whoever brought it. I sometimes heard of you from one and another, and I never forgot — never for a day. Then my uncle died and my cousin was killed, and I came back to Priorsford and settled down at Laver- law, and was content and quite fairly happy. The Wai ill if .'Sit '■t*^ f '■ •»- 4 ' PENNY PLAIN «67 came, and of oohwo I offered my services. I wasn't much use, but, thank goodness, I got out to Franco and got soma fighting^-a seoond-Iieutenant at forty! It vaa the first time I had ever felt myself of some real use. . . . Then that finished and I was back at Laverlaw among my sheep —and you came to Priorsford. The moment I saw you I knew that my love for you was as strong and young as It was twenty years ago. . . ." Pamela sat fingering a fan she hai" no PENNY PLAIN from the effect," Pamclt Mfurod her; "and you need ft comfortable car to tour about in. Wbrn do you go exactly V* "On the twentieth," .Iran told her. 'We take Darid first to Oxford, or rather ho takca ui», for he undorttandt maps and can find the road ; then we go on to Stratford. I wrote for rooms as you told me, and for seata for the plays, and I have hc^rd from the people that we can have both. I do wish you were coming, Pamela — won't you think better of it?" "My dear, I would love it — but it can't be done. I must go to London this week. If wo are to be married on first June there are simply multitudes of things to arranga But I'll tell you what, Jean. I shall come to Stratford for a day or two when you are there. I shouldn't be a bit surprised if Biddy were there too. If he happened to be in England in April ho always made a pilgrimage to the Shakeepeare Festival. M intern Abbas isn't very far from Stratford, and M intern Abbas in spring is heavenly. ThtU's what wo must arrange— a party at Mintem Abbaa. You would like fbat, wouldn't you, Jock?" "Would Richard Plantagenet be there? I would like awfully to see him again. It's been so dull without him." Mhor asked if there were any railways near Mintern Abbas, and was rather cast down when told that the nearest railway station was s 'ven miles distant. It amazed him that any ono should, of choice, live away from rail- ways. The skirl of an enfjine was sweetc: ic his ears than horns of elf-land faintly blowing, and the dream of his life was to be allowed to live in a small white- washed shanty which he knew of, on the railway-side, where he could spend ecstatic days watching every "passenger" and every "pHxls" that rushed shrieking, or dawdled shunting, along the jKjrmancnt way. To him each PEXNY VlJilS t7i different train had its own featurot. "I think," ho told Jean, "that Uie nino train is tho moat gcHMmUxrvil of the trams; h« doosn't euro how many carriapoii and ho™©- bovea th..v Htirk on to him. Tho twelve train han ulwavs a cros. sr-^-^y |,K>k. hut tho fivo train^-hin vuio,. L^.k the fond....jf noto u.at it hdd for PeUr and liarrie, tho oat- that l.ttio fivo train goea much tho fasloat; he's tho hero of tho day !'* Pamela's enffii^fement to Uwis Elliot had nwule. what Mm. M CohI, call«l, "a ffreat speak" in Priorsford. On the whole, It was felt that she ha.l / MICtOCOfY RCSOIUTION TIST CHART (ANSI and ISO TEST CHART No. 2) 150 1h 140 \^5 ii.4 12^ 12.2 2.0 1.6 ^ APPLIED IIVHGE 1653 East Mam Street Rochester. Ne« York 14609 USA (716) 482 -0300 -Phone (716) 288 - 5989 - Fox ^u'^J n J i' ' I * .•I ■„ I PENNY PLAIN think her bonnie noo — an' sho'a no' that auld. I saw a pictur in a paper the ither day of a new-mairit couple, an» bailh o' them had the avid-age pension,'* Jean looked on rather wistfully at her friend's happi- ness. She was most sincerely glad that the wooing^— so long delayed— should end like an old play and Jack have his Jill, but it seemed to add to the empty feeling in her own heart Pamela's casual remark about her brother per- haps being at Stratford had filled her for the moment with wild joy, but hearts after leaps ache, and she had quickly reminded herself that Richard Plantagenet had most evidently accepted the refusal as final and would never be anything more to her than Pamela's brother. It was quite as it should be, but life in spite of April and a m^^ -.r-car was, what Mhor called a minister's life, "a dullsome job." That year spring came, not reluctantly, as it often does in the uplands, but generously, lavishly, scattering buds and leaves and flowers and lambs, and putting a spirit of youth into everything. The days were as warm as June, and fresh as only April days can be. The Jardines anxiously watched the sun-filled days pass, wishing they had arranged to go earlier, fearful lest they should miss all the good weather. It seemed impossible that it could go on being so wonderful, out day followed day in golden succession and there was no sign of a break. David spent most of his days at the depot that held the car, there being no garage at The Rigs, and Jock and Mhor worshipped with him. A chauffeur had been engaged, one Stark, a Priorsford youth, a steady young man and an excellent driver. He had never been farther than Edinburgh. The 20th came at last. Jock and Mhor were up at an unearthly hour, parading the house, banging at Mrs. M'Cosh's door, and imploring her to rise in case breakfast PENNY PLAIN «78 an' was late, and thumping tho barometer to seo if it showed any inclination to fall. Tho car was ordered for nine o'clock, but they were down the road lookinj^ for it at least half an hour k'foro it was due, fef\crishly anxious in case something had happened cither to it or to Stixrk. Tho road Iwfore The Rips was quite crowded that April morninf^. Mrs. M'Cosh stood at tho <:ate Inside tho dancinj^ daffodils and the tulips and tho opcninnj wall-tlownrs iu the border, her hands folded on her spotless white apron, her face l)eaminpr with its accustomed kind smilo, and watched her fa^mily depart. "Keep a baud o' Peter, Mhor,'' sho cautioned. "Yo needna come back here if ye lo^e him." Th(> safety of the rest of tho party did not seem to concern her. Mr. and Mrs. Jowctt were there, having breakfasted an hour earlier than usual, thus risking tho wrath of their cherished domestics. Mrs. Jowett was carrying a large box of chocolates as a parting gift to the boys, wiiilf Mr. Jowett had a bottle of lavendar water for Jean. Augusta Hope had walked up from Ilopetoun with her mother's love to the travellers, a basket of fruit for the boys, and a book for Jean. The little Miss Watsons hopped forth from their dwelling with an offering of a home-baked cake, 'just in case you get hungry on the road, you know." Bella Bathgate was there, looking very saturnine, and counselling Mhor as to hia l)ehaviour. "Dinna loan oot o' the caur. Mony a body has lost their heid stick in' it oot of a caur. Here's some tea-biscuits for Peter. You'll be ower prood for onything but curranty-cake, I supposa'* Mhor assured her he was not, and gratefully accepted the biscuits. "Isn't it fun Peter's going ? I couldn't have gone either if he hadn't been allowed, but I expect I'll have to hold him in my arms a lot, He'U want to jump out at dogs." 'i 4 1 * I -H ^'^^ PENNY PLAIN And Mr. and Mra. Macdonald were there-Mrs. Mac- donald ab8olut.lj weighed down with gifts. ''It's just a trifle for each of you," she explained -No, no, don't thank me; it's nothing." ' "I've brought you nothing but my blessing, Jean," the T«.n !. >K f^ '^ ^ ""r^ ^'"'^ ^^^V for good," said S'ay/' * ^""^ '" ' ^*''^^'- "^^'^ «"'^ * ^i«J« nnZ^^ «^° te"?" sighed Mrs. Macdonald. "It's an nncertam world. But we'll horn, that you'll come back to V'JZ A M^^" f ? ^*'" ^'' ^'«""'>' ^J«^^ Remember Its only April, and the evenings are cold." l>avid packed Jean, Jock and Mhor into the car. Peter Ta.ri r '"' '^ ?' '^^«*^ '^''' '^^ ^«^°> a cushion unde h:m to protect the pale fawn cloth from his paw^ top Stark took his seat. David, his coat pocket bulging mth maps, got in beside him; and amid a chorus of ^ byes they were off. ^^ Jean looking back rather wistfully at The Ri^s eot soaned . very perfect thing as the ear slid do™ the hill over Tweed Bridge, over Cuddy Bridge, and tu™ed sharp o the left up the Old Town. Soou they were out of the mle grey town that looked so elean and fre^h with ft^ d.ming mormng face, and running through the deep woods above Peel Tower. Small childmn creeping LwIIn mgly to school stopped to watch then,, and Mhor looked at them p,tj->ngly School seemed a thing so far removed from h,s present happy state as no* to he worth remem- benng. Somewhere, doubtless, unhappy little people were ^M I PENNY PLAIN 275 learning the multiplication tabic, and struggling with the spelling of uncouth words, but Mhor, sitting in stato in "Wilfred the Gazelle" (for so David luul christeiunl the new car), could only spare them a passing thought. Ho looked at Peter sitting self-consciously virtuous on the seat opiK)site, he leaned across Josin to s*>nd a glance of profound satisfaction to Jock, then he rakod from his pocket a cake of butter-scotch and sank back in his seat to crunch in comfort. They followed Tweed as it ran by woml and field and hamlet, and as they reached the moorlands of the upper reaches Jean began to notice that Wilfred tho Gazelle was not running as smoothly as usual. Perhaps it was imagination, Jean thought, or perhaps it was the effect of having luggage on the top, but in her inmost heart she knew it was more than that, and she was not surprised. Jean was filled with a deep-seated dit^rust of motors. She felt tliat every moior was just waiting ita chance to do its owner harm. She had started with no i-eal hope of reaching any destination, and expecttnl nothing less than to spend the night camping inside the car in some lonely spot. She had all provisions made fc such an occurrence. Jock said suddenly, "We're not going more than ten miles an hour," and then the car stopped altogether and David and Stark got down. Jean leaned out and asked what was wrong, and David said shortly that there was nothing wrong. Presently he and Stark got back into their places and the car was started again. But it went slowly, haltingly, like a bird with a broken wing. They made up on a man driving a brown horse in a wagonette — a man with a brown beard and a cheerful eye — and passed him. The car stopped again. Again David and Stark got out and stared and poked f7(J PENNY PLAIN ?"• '"} and conmiltod together. Again Jean's head went out, and again she received the same short and nnHntisfactory answer. •' The brown-bearded man and his wagonotfc made up on ^am, looked at the car in an interested way, and passed on. •^' Again tho car started, passed tlie wagonette, and went on for about a mile and stopped. A^in Jean's head wont out. "David," she ^id, *'what is the matter?" and it goes far to show how harassed that polished Oxonian was when ho replied "If you don't take your face out of that 1 JI sJap It. Jean withdrew at once, feeling that she had been tactless and David had been unnecessarily rude-David who had never been rude to her since they were children, and had told each other home-truths without heat and without ill-feeling on either side. If this was to be the eneci of owning a car . ,i'^"i'?^ the Gazelle's dead," said Mhor, and got out, followed by Jock, and in a minute or two by Jean. They all sat down in the heather by the roadsida Dead car notwithstanding, it was delicious sitting there in the spring sunshine. Tweed was nearing its source and was now only a trickling bum. A lark was sinking high up m the blue. The air was like new wine. The lambs were very young, for spring comes slowly up that way, and one tottering little fellow was found by Mhor, and carried rapturously to Jean. "Take it; it's just bom," he said. "Jock, hold Peter tight m case he bites them." "Did you ever see anything quite so new?" Jean said as she stroked the little head, "and yet so independent? m T, .^^^'^ ™"'*^^'- ^*« ^y^' ^o«^ so perplexed, Jdhor. It 8 quite strange to the world and doesn't know PENNY PLAIN 077 what to make of it. That's ite mother over there. Tako It to Lor; siios crying for it." David came up and stood looking gl(K)mily at Uio lamb. Ferhaps ho envied it being m young and careless and motor-legs. "Stark's busy with the car," ho announ^^xl, ratlior need- lesflly, AH the fa^t was apparent to all. -I'm dashed if 1 know what 8 the matter with the old bus. . . . Here's that man a<;ain. . . ." Jean burst into helpless laughter as the wagonette again overtook them. The driver flourished his whip and the horse broke into a canter— it looked like derision. There was a long silence— then Jean said- "If it won't go, it's too big to move. We shall have to train ivy on it and make it a feature of the landscape." Ur else, said David, savagely and irreverently— ^or else hew it in pieces before the Lord." Stark got up and straightened himself, wiped his hands and his forehead, and came up to David. "Fve found out what's wrong," he said. "She'll manage to MoflFat, but we'll have to get her put right theTa he^siblVto J^In."'"' '"^^ '^'''' ''''''' ^^^«"^P- They got luck into the car and it sprang away as if suddenly endowed with new life. In a trice they had passed the wagonette, leaving it in a whirl of scornful du3t. Ihey ate the miles as a giant devours sheep. They passed the Devil's Beef Tul^-Jock would have liked to tary there and investigate, but Jean dared not ask Stark to stop m case they could not start again, and soon went sliding down the hill to Moffat. Hot puffs of ZllTr rose from the valley they had left, the moorlands and SL T^' '". '" *r° ^'' ^°^^^°^ «'^* "»«« ^ welcome 9fr^. T^f^,^^^^^ along the sunny, sleepy, midday High otreet and stopped at an hotel. ^ fa" il A'^ «78 PENNV PLAIN E«opt p,,id, no member of ,!,„ j„„,i„„ ,,„(, ^^ .wb^r,u *^ "''■ "^1 "*•* '■•'"" "'" •'"^■«. ^'o-- the done httir if they miffht hare hindicon. Y,.,, thov luichL be fed m the kitchen if that w„,ilj „,;, pl.tl' ""*"""" •'''™ '^« '" 'o " ■"otor-repairing (o the hoU..| door^ Joan g.^ed at it with a «,rt of f«rfu! '^ilMM' '^^ °?''^,''«"-» flue, imp.Jve'^ag^r" J,,,, « I .*" ■■*'"' '^'"•'' '" "ho venture,! to inqTr^ Stark had no manners, Jean reflected, but he had a moe ftoe and waa a teetotaller, and one c;n't ha™ tery! ntlL^f' ^7 ^^r'^ '""' ™° *<"• « W by the side such as there never were in Priorsford. Thev were spinning along the fine level road, making up L"^ time, when a sharp report startled them and m^do MW who was washing a train, lose his balance anrfalTfo^ ward on^to Peter, who was taking a sleep on theX'^t aJL' ™ \*^ ^''X' "'^ "■*" '^ "o '™e «o mend it if they were io he at Carlide in time for tea. Stark put on the spare wheel and they started again. Fortune seemed to have got tired of persecuting them, and there were no further mishaps. They ran withZ^ a pause through village after vill.^, snatdiing gHmi^ rf lovely places where they would fain have li^ered, C gettmg them as each place offered new beautieT PENNY PLAIN «79 The great excitement to Jock and Mhor waa tlio cromtut of the Border. ^* ••! did it onco," said Mhor, "when I caino from lu.lia. but I didn't notice it." ' "Rather not," gaid Jock ; "you wore only two. I waa four v/a«nt I, Jean< when 1 canio from India, and I didn t notice it." "Is there a lino across tho rou.W" .Mhor .wke.I. "And do the people speak Kcots on one sido and English on the otlier 'i I suppose we'll go over with a hump." "There's nothing to show," J,M;k to!d him, "hut tliore'a a difference m tlio air. It's wanner in England." "It'a very uninterested of Peter to go on 'sleeping" Mhor said in a disgusted tone. -You would think ho would feel there was something happening. And he's a ticots dog, too." The Border was safely crossed, and Jock professed to notice at oneo a striking (lifference in air an,l landscape. Iheres an English feel about things now," he insisted, Miiffing and looking all round him; -and I hoar the English voices Mhor, this is how the Scots came over to fight the English, only at night and on horseback — into Carlisle Castle." "And I was English," said Mhor di-eamily, "and I had a big black horse and I pranced on the Castle wall and killed every one that came." "You ntH^dn't boast about being English," Jock aaid, looking at Mhor coldly. "J don't bhvme you, for you can t help it, but it's a pity." Mhor's face got very pink and there was a tremble in his voice, though he said in a bragging tone, "I'm glad 1 m English. The English are as brave as— as " "Of course they are," said Jean, holding Mhor's hand tight under the rug. She knew how it hurt him to be even for a momont, at variance with Jock, his idol. "Mhor .CT'^'- r*' • 1 • - T *®^ PENNY PLAIN ha. evory right t.. \^ prcn.,| of boing Knglith. Jock His t'KhtinK men. An.l v,,,, kn„w v.-ry well Umt it dc^n't ZZJU'V''? ';■;"■; "■ - '■'"« - '^"•' "" '»^^ - that ., do. You 1«„ would l„,v„ 1 «,,„,, „,,„i K,,!,,, (,• you had l.vcl „ f„„ |„„„|„.,, ,„„^, „ *• "•-"" " kiii"";'.!u"rl;''"'''' "" '^""' "■^- •'■■"" *'""J '»- ''W,.ll if, all ,,„,,,•. ,„,.,, j^ „_^, J, Scotland aro ono and KkIu „^x,l„.r „.,„, .|.,,., ;*; ^, ,; , ' No, ;.,uoh ro„,au.„ al«ut it now, i, ,l...roi WVro^i "to miled if W I /"t'l """"'" ''°" """« >■"" «°"l'' ■'-0 luiMca It you d Ijvcd long a(,'o — trains " The car had to have n t.vro ropaircl and that t<«k some ^"e, >o after t™ the .lardino, stood in the station and br^l, »"" thnlhnp ,o stand in tho balMight of the jump out and tramp ahont the platform and buy b«>k9 .nd pape™ from the l,«,ks,all. or fruit, or ch.Kdate o tea and buna from the boys in uniform who wentTbou cry.n« tbc.r wares. An,l thon U.e wild scurryi^ ofle passengors-hke bens Wfore a motor, J«.k Ld-wht the flag was wavcl and the train about to start. Mhtr some ,t was tho last second of tl.e eleventh hour. There seemed ,„ be Hundreds of porters wheeling lu^ga^e on trolley^ ptards walketmlr r"*''^"' •» ""h "'■■ough the morning ir st.ll sharp from a touch of frost in tho night, a^Zu h.ghcr and h.gher into the hills. Mhor sang to h.^«,' ihe wo;:.'T "' '■''"' "■"' ""'"'''■ - """ i"'™ what :^ fte words he sang, and Jock thought poorly of the tu^ PoU,r snuggled up to him and seeded To und^rsld and The day grew hot and dusty as thoy ran down from fit '■'ihii*>Jl ml, ill "S Jm Ai Ii.(^. ^. „;:Uk; l-ATrvflur.- Nva, -rin. an.l .|i,,y un.j ,,„i|„j. ^(i,,,^ |,^|^,,| «t tJjo Ktiniy place ami »rt«l to Ik. .;apan...e, |,„f tho onlv thin^H aUit it tiiat rtHrulled that nunny iHJan.i .nersea.s weio tin- mprv napkinn, the china, and two fann nailnl n„ tho wall • the linolcmni-coverod floor, Hiv hard wooden chairs, tho fly' blown buna being iKHuliarly and hh-nkly HritiHh. lieforo evening the grim country wa.s left In^hind. In the «oft April twilight they cro.scd wide moorland* (which Jock wan inclined to resent as K-ing "t(K> Scotn to be hnghsli") until, us it was beginning to get dark, they •hd softly into Shrewsbury-. ^ The next day was as fine an ever. "Ucallv,'' said Jean, aa they strolled before breakfast, watching the show being opened and studying the ol.l tin^hercd houses, "it's getting almost absurd: like FaUier's story of the soldier who greeted his master every morning in India with 'Another hot day, sirr.' We thought if we got one good day out of the three we were to be on the road wo wouldn't grumble, and here it goes on and on We must come back to Shrewsbury, JJavie. It deserves more tlian just to be slept in. ..." "Aren't English breakfasts the best you ever tasted?" PKNNY PLAIN tM I)»vid ttukftl an thoy Mt .lown to nuhen of homo^urtMl ham. airpulent bn.wi, .u».«g.*, ^^1 ,^^ p„a..J,cHl i.. ., niwty. So fur F)avi.l tia.l luadu an cxci.|Un»t jnii'lt'. Thrv hml nrvrr on... .Iiverp-.! fr.mi the io«.| tLi-v moaut to tttki', but tliM tlur.l day ..f (l,« run turnwl out to bo sonii'what n.nfuMMl. Th.'v .sturu.l otF ahn.Mt at on... on U.o wnnitf rcMiil an.l f.)un-"ryeli8tH dismount. Many acoidimts. Some fatal." Stark wont on unconternodly, and Jeau ahouti^ at him, hohling doHperately to tlio sido of tho btark I htark 1 Didn't you 8eo that placard ?" "Didna catch it," aii.l Stark, as ho swung Mght- hoartedly down an almost porpendicuhir hill into the valley of tho Severn. "I do think Stark's u fool," said Jean bitterly, wrathful in tho reaction from her fright. '41© does no damage on the road, and of cutirse- I'm glad of Uiat IVo scon hnn stop dead for a hen, and tho wayfaring man, though a fool, ,s safe from hiui ; but he caroa nothing for what happt^ns to the p.)or wnetehe.I people in^Ie tho car. As nearly as possible he had us over the parapet of that irjd :^--rt '4 1: ' ' ' '^"'lA ' •** PENNY PLAIN And later, when they found from tho bill at lunch-tinu that htarks luncheon had insisted of "one mineral,' she thought that the way ho had risked all their lives rau8t have taken away his appetite. The car ran splendidly that day— David said it wag getting into its stride-and thoy got to Oxford for tea and had time to go and h(h.. David's rwmis In-fore they left for Stratford. But David would let tlicni sco nothing else. :N^o, he said; '"it would l)c a shame to inirry over your first sight. You must come here after Stratford. I'll take rooms for you at tho Mitre. I want to show you Oxford on a May morning." It was quite dark when they reached Stratford. To Jean it seemed strange and delicious thus to enter Shake- speare s own town, the Avon a-glimmer under the moon, the kingcups and the daisies asleep in the meadows. The lights of the Shakespeare Hotel shone cheerily as they c^me forward. A "boots" with a wrinkled, whimsical face came out to help them in. Shaded lights and fires (for the evenings were chilly) made a bright welcome, and thej were led across the stone-paved hall with its oaken rafters, gate-legged tables, and bowls of spring flowers, up a steep little staircase hung with old prints of the plays, down winding passages to the rooms allotted to them. Jean looked eagerly at the name on her door. ^11 „' ^'""^ ^""^ 'Rosalind.' I wanted her most of ^ Jock and Mhor had a room with two beds, rather incongruously called "Anthony and Cleopatra." Jock was inclined to be affronted, and said it was a silly-looking thing to put him in a room called after such an amorous couple If It had been Touchstone, or Mercutio, or even bhylock, he would not have minded, but tho pilgrims of iove got scant sympathy from that sturdy misogynist CHAPTER XXIV That oVr the peen corn-fields did pa^s, In the spr.ng.tin.e. the only pretty ring U^e. ■<<* Fou Like It. It Hke a peep into some thrilling book Sh« S I T Were ,hey all Shakespeare lovers! she wondered Bering him like anything." °' *" ^ '^"^ There were several elerfrv-mpn in +1,^ fat, with a smnc iJu , *^® '*°''°'' «"«' rather deeWdt,u\:rferrri:d^VhSlrht"'':i-^^'''' " a^^ea mother and two lean sisters. 285 iivtf!l-*L 1 S86 PENNY PLAIN One family party attracted Jean very much: a young- looking father and mother, with two girls, verv pretty and newly grown up, and a boy like Davie. They were making plana for the day, deciding what to sw and what to leave unseen, laughing a great deal, and chaffing each other, parents and children together. They looked so jolly and happy, as if they had always found the world a comfortable place. They seemed rather amused to find themselves at Stratford among the worshippers. Jean concluded that they were of those "not bad of heart" who "remembered Shakespeare with a start." Jock and Mhor were in tlie highest spirits. It seemed to thona enormous fun to be staying in an hotel, and not an ordinary square up-and-down hotel, but a rambling place with little stairs in unexpected places, and old parts and new parts, and bedrooms owning names, and a long, low-roofed drawing-room with a window at the far end that opened right out to the stable-yard through which pleasantries could be exchanged with grooms and chauf- feurs. There was a parlour, too, off the hall— the cosiest of parlours with cream walls and black oak beams and supports, two fireplaces round which were grouped invit- ing arm-chairs, tables with books and papers, many bowls of daffodils. And all over the house hung old prints of scenes in the plays; glorious pictures, some of them — ghosts and murders over which Mhor gloated. They went before luncheon to the river and sailed up and down in a small steam-launch named The Swan of Avon. Jean thou;;ht privately that the presence of such things as steam-launches was a blot on Shakesj)oare'3 river, but the boys were delighted with them, and at once began to plan how one might be got to adorn Tweed. In the afternoon they walked over the fields to Shottery to see Anne Hathaway's cottage. Jean walked in a dream. On just such an April day, •4 3^ PENNY PLAIN «87 when ahephorda piiK, on oaten straws, Shakospeare himself must havo walked here. It would bo different, of course- there would be no streets of little mean houses, only a few thatched cottages. Hut the larks would bo giuging as they wore tonlay, and the hawthorn coming out, and tho spring flowers abloom in Anno Ilatlmwa/s garden. She caught hor breath as they went out of the sunshine into the dim interior of the cottage. This inglo-nook . . . Shakespeare must havo sat here on winter evenings and talked. Did he toll Anno Hath- away wonderful tales ? Porhape, when ho was not writing and weaving for hims. If a garment of immortality, he was just an everyday man, genial with hia neighbours, mtereeted in all the small events of his own town, just Master Shakespeare whom the children looked up from their play to smile at as he passed. ^ "Oh, Jock," Jean said, clutching her brother's sleeve. Can you really believe that 7^e sat here ?— actually in this little room ? Looked out of the window— isn't it wmder- ful, Jock?" Jock, like Mr. Fearing, ever wakeful on the enchanted ground, rolled his head uncomfortably, sniffed and said It smells musty!" Both he and Mhor were frankly much more interested in the fact that ginger-beer and biscuits were to be had in the cottage next door. They mooned about all afternoon vastly content, and had tea m the garden of a sort of enchanted cottage (with a card in the window which bore the legend, "We sell home-made lemomde, lavender, and pot-pourri') amon*' apple trees and spring flowers and singing birds, 'and at^ home-made bread and honey, and cakes with orange icing on them. A giri in a blue gown, who might have been Sweet Anne Page, waited on them, and Jean was so distressed at the amount they had eaten and at the small- ness of the bill presented that she slipped an extra largo IM..^il. S88 PENNY PLAIN ,", . j» . , i^ I I IT . ■If '• tip under a p ate, and fled before it could be di«»verc It was a red-letter day for all three, for they were goii to thojhoatre that night for the first tima Joan hi once been at a play with her father, but it was so loi ago as to bo the dinmieet memory, and she was as excit* as the hoys. Their first play was to be As You Like 1 Oh, lucky young people to see, for the first time on a April evening, in Shakespeare's own town, the yountres gayest play that ever was written I They ran up to their rooms to dress, talking an aughing. They could not l>o silent, their hearts were a light Jean sang softly to herself as she laid out what sh meant to wear that evening. Pamela had made he promise to wear a white frock, the merest wisp of a frocl made of lace and georgette, with a touch of vivid green and a wreath of green leaves for the golden-brown head Jean had protested. She was afraid^sTie would look over dressed : a black frock would be more suitable; but Pameh Had insisted and Jean had promised. As she looked in the glass she smiled at the pictun she mada It was a pity Pamela couldn't see how succea. ftil the frock was, for she had designed it . . . Lord Bidborough had never seen her prettily dressed. Why did Pamela never mention him ? Jean realised the truth of the old saying, "Speak weel o' ma love, speak ill o' ma love, but aye speak o' him." She looked into the boys' room when she was ready and found them only half dressed and engaged in a game of cock-fighting. Having admonished them she went down alone. She went very slowly down the last flight of stairs (she was shy of going into the dining-room)— a slip of a girl crowned with green leaves. Suddenly she stopped. IhCTe, m the hall watching her, alone but for the "boots" with the wrinkled, humorous face and eyes of amused tolerance, was Richard Plantagenet PENNY PLAIN «89 Behind her where she stood hung a print of Lear— the hovel on the heath, the storm-bent trec8, the figure of the old man, the shivering Fool with his "Poor Tom's a-cold. Beside her, fa.stenM to the wall, was a lettor-box with a g aaa front full of letters and pieture^ards waiting to be taken to the evening post. Tragedy and the com- monplace things of lift^biit Jean, for the moment, was lifted far from either. She was seeing a new heaven and a new earth. Words were not nealed. She looked into Kichard I lantagenet's eyes and knew that he wanted her, and she put her hands out to him like a trusting child. When Jock and Mhor reached the dining-room and found Richard Plantagenet seated beside Jean they were rapturous m their greetings, pouring questions on him. demanding to know how long he meant to stay. As long as you stay," he told them. "Oh, good "Jock said. "Are you fearfully keen on Shakespeare? Jean's something awful. It gives me a sort of hate at him to hear her." "Oh, Jock," Jean protested, "surely not. I'm not nearly as bad as some of the people here. I don't haver quite so much I was in the drawing-room this morning and heard two women talking, an English woman and an Ainerican. The English woman remarked casually that Shakespeare wasn't a Christian, and the American protested, 'Oh, don't say He had a great White SouL' " Gosh Maggie!" said .k. "What a beastly thing to say about anybody! If Shakespeare could see Stratford now I expect he'd laugh— all the shops full of little heads, and pictures of his house, and models of his birth- place . . . it's enough to put anybody off being a genius." 1 was dreadfully snubbed in a shop to-day," said Jean smiling at her lover. "It was a very nice mixed-up shop with cakes and crucifixes and little stucco figures, presided *^ PENNY PLAIN over r,.y a di^ifio,! Imly with black lace on her head. I romem )er«l Mrs. Jowett's passion for stncco sainte in her b^lroom, and picke.! o„e up, remarking, that it would be a nice rcmcmbran<.o of Stratford. 'Oh, surely not, madain, H«,d the shoc-ke,! voice of the shoj>h,dj, 'surely a nobler memory -and I found .7 «.a,v a figure of Christ}* Jean simply rushed out of the shop," said Jock, "and sne hain't paid, and I Im.i t« „^ • • i , ^ ^^ piuu, HU(i i iiuu to go in again with the from h,, pocknt. Ho unwroppod it, revealing a small bust 01 Shakespeare. "It's a wee Shakespeare to send to Mrs. M'Cosh— and rIIHJ ^'' ^'"' Bathgate^a funny one, a pig. He handed the card to Lord Bidborough, who read aloud the words issuing from the mouth of the pig: Vou may push me tou may shovp, But r novcr will be druv From Stratford-on-Avon." "Excellent sentiment, Mhor— Miss Bathgate will be pleased." "Yes," said Mhor complacently. "I tJiought she'd like a pig better than a Shakespeare one. She said she won- dered Jean would go and make a fuss about the place a play-actor was bom in. She says she wouldn't read a word he wrote, and she didn't swra to like the bits I said to her. . . This isn't the first time, Richard Plantagenet, I've sat up for dinner." ^ ' "Isn't it?" "No I did it at Penrith and Shrewsbury and last night here." "By Jove, you're a man of the world now, Mhor." ;^ia''.'5l PENNY PLAIN «9l go on," 8ai«l Jean, '*biit onco in a "li mustn't whila . . ." "And d>u know whore Vm ^inp to-nipht?" Mhor r"^ "i^, n *" ^'r*'" ^° '^ '^ P'">'- ^'^'^ A«*i I '^i'-n't bo in bed til at loast eleven o'clock. Tt'n the first time in my hfo I vo over been outside after ten o'clo<.k, and ^« a'wa.V« wanted to see what it was like then." ^o different from any other time," Jock told him. B„t Mhor shook hm head. He knew bettor. After-ton-o'clock 1-and miuit be different . . . "This i8 a great night for us all," Jean said. "Our "Of course I'm goiug. I wouldn't miss Jock's face at « p ay for aujthing . . Or yours," he added, leaning ^ards her. "No, Mhor. There's no hurry. It doesn'f .^er rtmT'" '^^'-'^"^ ' ' ' ^^"'^ '^'^ ^'^ ^ ^^- Mhor was in a fever of impatience, and quite ten manutes before the hour they were in their seats in the front row of the balcony. Oddly enough. Lord Bid- bofongh s seat happened to be adjoining the seats taken by the Jardinee, and Jean and he sat together. It was a crowded house, for the play was being played by a new company for the first time that night. Jean sat silent, much too content to talk, watching the people round her, and listening idly to snatches of converSn. Two women, evidently inhabitants of Uie town, were talKing behind her. "Yes," one woman was saying; ''I said to my sister only to-day, 'What would we do if there was a sudden alarm m the night?' If we needed a doctor or a police- mani You know, my dear, the servants are all as old as we are. I don't really believe there is any one in our road thai, can run." rmMM^tj m . I ; .«i } ■ - 3 : . iT^ES m *^ PENNY PLAIN and «in,i;,Mg bird» and lovers, there, wtro m,,.,!,. oI,I .nJ one „ho could .nl, walk .Wl, i„ U-oZr i 'thorn tho pnng could no longer p,„ . .pint „f v,ulh, wl" «.uW not run without being wc.ry. How „gl> „ge'„„° Ortm, racnacmg: Agi., I do abhor th«.. f ^ "S" *"' 1 IK' curtain went up. orp:,r':^„ruitirr ^: t-.^r:? aresset You see how simple it is, ,nd vivid, rather like Noah's Ark «:enery ? And the drc^ are a rcvora™ n« ^e stuff, uadUion that ».de Rosalind a s:rt oTprS "oy. . . .Those dresses are all copied from old miaeall . . . I rather like it. Do you approve!" UinrarJel" " '"''""'' '" ''''^' "^"' -"^ »"> - welL Touchstone had come in— that witty knave- Moi^ "eur le Beau with hi, mouth full of news; .„d a^" the young Orlando o'erthrowing more than hi. tZ^ And now Rosa md and Celia are planning thS night ... It ,» tne Forest of Arden. Again Orlando .nd Adam apeak together, and Adam, with all his -J^ brave upon h.m, assures his master, "iy age i» « aluJ^ winter, frosty but kindly." J' "ge « as a luaty The words came to Jean with a new significance. How Shakespeare knew ... why should she mourn l«caZ Age must come? Age was beautiful and calm, ZZ PENNY PLAIN ,fg p««.ioiu »nd (lincoutonlH .no .hort r l" :^^^^^^^^^^^^ "•"" -^^'^ --^'^ - "PP'^^unel, convert Du.V\rC';^trthe\!''- "' ^''' ''' Ttvmorrow " said Mhor, who waB nkipping alonir to-morrow I'm goin^ to take Pefor to the river and let him snowk after water-mt- t ♦! • i l . / ,. . ®* • »^«f- I wattr-rata. I think he's feeling bnely— a |;^ot« dog anmng «o many English people." ^ fc>tarka lonely too/' naid Jock. -IlVaaya the other tto „"nd 'r riT^^'^V/ ^'^-^ --* ^dTslukfZ do to undcrHtand them." would care ranch to see tho plays " "Ho told ™V .Tock went on, "that ono of the other n"fr .'""' """^ ''™ •« K" "i"' him to ,^ncer[ ealed Ma.iHH. When I told him what it wa. hT^d he d had an eKape. He ,aya he a«. enough of Shll^ pearc ,n th,. place without going to hear hin,. HeW "An . T ^"t'' '""^ "'«'«•» » "«™» coming—-" And oh, Jean," cried Mhnr "If'a ^i,^ • came to Prionrfordl" ' ^ ""■* ""* **«' ^TAe a rtart, Mhor," aaid Jock, "and I'U race you » PENNY PLAIN f©/^ Lord RiMborouffh and Jcmn wmIIcchI on in alienee. .\t tho KHrdcn hIut.. one. had .t,.Ml New Plac^^that pretty ho„«, ,„ hnc-k «„.! tiink.r"-tho abadow of tU It wan tho vlvot darknih,. «f tho old trowi. „ a. , uu« ,n Shak«.jK»«„.'H titno. Ho .nunt have i»ocn th'o P adow of Uu. u,H.r falling. liko that, and th. tr«.. and I " 'On iucb • nlffht I Stood r)i.lo with a willow In ^or han.l t pon th«. wild afa Ixtnk. and w.ft i„.r lorw To come again U> ('arUiaire. ' " Tooy had lK.th BtopjH.J, and J.an, after a glance at hor oominm.on s fa^o. o,yd away. If,, caught hor hand* and hehl 1»(T the i the Hhadow. ;Tho hist ti:. 3 we were togt*ther, Jean ^^ December, drippinp ram and mud, and you would ua. no of rao To-n.ght-,n |,uch a night, Joan, I come aguin to you.* I love you. Will you marry me?" ^ "Yea," said Jean — "for I am youra" For n minnto Uiey «tood caught up to the seventh heaven, knowing nothing except tliat they were togethw. hearing nothing but tho boating of their owr hearts Joan wan the first to come to herself "Every one's gono home. The boys'll . mk we are lost Oh Biddy, have I done right? Are you sure you want mo? Can I make you happy?" "Can !,oumake me happy? My blessed child, what a question ! Don't you know that you soem to me almost too dear for my possessing? You are far too good fo^ me, but T won t give you up now. No, not though all the King's horses and all tho King's mon come in arruy agam-t rr.c. My Jean . . . mv little Joan.*' t I 1 4 ••• PENNY PUIN kLit it wL hTt. ^^^^^^'^''''f ^- »»..! to marry ,om^ Mhor, hko G.||,o, ctml for noni> of tufJthing» B. merely nid, "Oh, «,d will you t^ mZ«l ^a h»v«, A brid«?iw«k«? Wb.t fun! V... !"f"**^ ■^? 1>«»«.» •«.! ^ * t • • • '"" mitfht TO with t^^r „h' T '"J-'" ■""''• ''" """I-' «'>^ -^«t ,0 w„ ToJia cz:,:::,' '"'™ '"" - "- •"" '•-' i' Parnola, on honring the news, rui.he.1 down from London to oon^atulato Jean .„d her mdyZ\eZn She W.8 looking what Joan called ''fearfullr Ix>S' and «ecm6d in high spirita '^a"«"7 lx)n(lon, ver^lZTJ'"'' \^''^^ "P'"^'" -^^ *oW Jean. "The ihT^kT °* '° .**^* ^"'•'^ ^" ^^™« to P"«. I didn't think there w«« a girl living that I could live Biddv t. Z^Zd\!Z'r V "" ^°"' •'"^ then U'^;:n,^e^'lt too^gr>od to be true that you should fall in lovo witl. each "But," Mid Jean, "how could you want him to marrr me an ordinary girl in a little provincial townT-^ could have married anybody." ° ' *** "Lot* of girls would have married Biddy, but I wanted him to have the best, and when I found it^f^r Mm Te h^ amerent life m London seems now-I can enjoy it whole- «be PENNY PLAIN ^ [.fiirtttlly, fljn^ ny^if |^ j . 'N*ior., not won wh..n I wm iit my ,no«i huftorHv .u«, nnlv « .fran^. within th. ^t^. Mv r" Hf^ ' TUi^ ■ nt tho thought of the ,rr.^„ dct, 'and !h« IJmI . ' "Vou m..un." i.j,| J,,„,., -that vou .Min eniov rII tl,« bad to hvo for, un.I I ^^,t to hato thtin ml two hiitMM :« ti.- 1 . uJiKi. wiu»n aro you ..im!:,::" r,:r',ci':..'."""'""""" ^'"' ^•-•' .bom."' ""'" ■'""'' "'■'' ""'"'•'» '^*'' •"«'' • I-" >o uJk 'Thilnnthropic whoniM, I «uppo«c?" Jean alarli'il ^ilijly. ""m afraid «„,. ,-j' f„^„^ ^^^ ,^^ «. 17'^ I ron.iu.l«J ,„„ of ;. ,^„|, ^ know what .vou ,.||<«J „u,«., „„ d.ar, b whaC U Joan S M " I?'""""'' P'*""'" """> y- "ere, 0»e snnahmo day foUowed another. Wi]f«Kl th. PENNY PLAIN Gazelle and the excellent Stark carried the party on expIor.„,r oxfHxl.ti«„H all over the eountrydde. In one del.ciou. village they wan.Iered, after lunch at the inn, into the httle church which stood embowered among Wossom.ng treea. The old vi<.ar left his garden and offered to show them .ts beaufios, and Jean fell in love with the simpl.c.ty and the feeling of homeliness that was about it iiiddy she whispered, -what a delicious church to be marricl m. You couUI hanll.v help being happy ever after if you were married hero." Later in the day, when they were alone, he reminded her of her words. "Why shouldn't we. Penny-plain? Why shouldn't we? I know you hate a fussy marriage and dread all the letters and presents and meeting crowds of people who are strangers to you. Of course, it's frightfully good of Mrs. waiting and this is the spring-time, the real 'pretty ring- Z' tT ? r^ "P *" ^"^^^'^ ^d get a special licence. I don't know how in the worid il's donerbnt I can find ou^ and Pam would come, and David, and 7Zi "^^ir'^}? ^' ^i«J« ^^hurch among the bloioms. a'rrngr-ihit T' "'" ^^^" "^ ^-^ '^^^ - weiidi^gl"'''^'" "^' '"^^ "^ P^^^« ^- o-^^ .iJ.?"* ^""^ ^""ul^ °^^ *^ P'^P^^^- Y«"'^e got lovely clothe., and we'll go straight to Mintem Abbls, where It doesn t matter what we wear. I tell you what, we'll go to London to-morrow and see lawyers and things- do you realise yon haven't even got an engagement ring, yon neglected child » And tell Pani Mad? Of coursf V T V 5' ^\^^^ *^'^ ^'^ ^^ *^« Golden World. It 8 Rosalind and Oriando. Be persuaded, Penny-plain." Pnorsford will be horrified," said Jean. "They aren't ' *'!> 4W^' PKNNV PLAIN «99 used to such indecorous Iiu,te, an,l oh, Biddv, I coMnl be Diame. do hM and descend to dinner and the play, an arrant Smt, '^•"f " ^'' ^''^ "^ friction. V; t<.ni;ht S .w^ ahSrJ'' r'" r"' '"""■ She "ad c»me "A?r A. ? ^ t : '*""« ""e spring cleaning half done, d^i^ .1' "'"."! '" *^« earden and AgL rubbing down the wal^ and Allan's men beating the carpeT In came the tel^am, and after I gotlver theTock^f iridTr.' *^f.r"' ^hen I si a telog^^pttJ rXin Jl""^ fl •"'* "'^^ '^ »<" what^t^wasbut ™drilenou? f K °.T '^'"8''*^' P'''*'^ ^^^^ he was driven out of his study, and he's never happy in any other room, but most of all because it was JeaS^^EngHsh Church or no English Church he'll help to mrry jtn But, tnrning to the bride to be, "I can hardly tefiw^' J«n. It's only ten days since you left Priorf^d a^d' to-morrow you're to be married. I think it wal the W^ that taught us such hurried ways " = ■ u°, j then went on briskly: "I went ^^ s^," ir^'MtfTr^ PENNY PLAIN 801 my 1 loft She had had jour letter, so I didn't need to break the newa to her. She was wonderfully calm about it, and aaid that when people went away to England you might expect to hear anything. She said I was to tell Mhor that the cat was asking for him. And she is getting on with the cleaning. I think she said she had finished the dining- room and two bedrooms, and she was expecting the sweep to-day. She said you would like to know that the man Had come about the leak in the tank, and it's all right I saw Bella Bathgate as I was leaving The Rigs. She sent you and Lord Bidborough her kind regards. ... She has a free way of expressing herself, but I don't think she means to be disrespectful." ''Has she got lodgers just now?" Pamela asked. Oh yes, she told me about them. One she dismissed as an auldish, impident wumman wi' specs': and the other as rrible genteel.' Both of them *a sair come- pXtli'^ °*' ^'''' ^'" "'^ ^°^ y^^ "« ^^ * "I wasn't always on a pedestal," said Pamela, "but I aha 1 always have a tenderness for Bella Bathgate and her parlo-n She smiled to LewJ, Elliot as she said it Jean, sitting beside Mr. Macdonald, thanked him for coming. "Happy, Jean ?" he asked. "Utterly happy " said Jean. 'So happy that Pm al- most afraid. Isn't it odd how .ne seems to cower down to avoid drawing tlie attention of the Fates to one's hap- folTwar^^'"^' '"^* '' °^"^^*' '^ '' "^"^^*'' ^° "^ ^^'^^ „/-^T'* i' i» simplr b^ with c/o LI! ^^"ke«peare, and the place of Dlace Yn„ T ''''''Sy°^^' ^ ^^^ wouldn't feel out 01 place. You know you taught me first to care for Shakespeare, and I'd love to sit beside you and se^Tpg Mr. Macdonald shook his head at her. for ^ T ^'^P*^ ^°"' °'^ °^»°»«t«-» J«n ? IVe lived for sixtj-fivo jears without seeing a play and I Ihink T la^ I f^ ""' ';?"°"^ *'«° ^^ ««^ 0^ tht woHd J S;ro^^^.s:^^^^^^^^ ^-e, intolerant .es:rW'ent^^^^^ - .rrr ^^^'^^ we^tiri'at'znT^-your «?T^ „® ^**"8^^* I^avie would like it »' It s Kormo and Juliet," Jock brolcA in «a -n i that." sleeping, .Mhor, I'll wake you up for donair^' '''' "^ ^^ "^^ ^'< '^ -^^ to Mrs. Mac JohfaLd ilin' """'f l"^ ^^" ^ *« ^- play and row m ^ i5^ ^'.^^ to bed and be fresh for tLor- row. When is the wedding?" "-"-mor T "f^iiZt''^ *''*'^^^ ^° *^® «l^"^ch at Little St MarVs " Lord Bidborough told her "Tt'a oi. /. JJiarys, Stratford. I'm stay L at* tl.. 1 * *'° "^'^^ ^«°^ u. i in staying at the mn there to-ni^ht nnrl T dnarily Hnd^fof Md- Macdonald. "It's most e^^: ZZi^lltZti ■'"'" ,*"* *" ™"^ ^ ■'"«* J«»° would never leel herself properly married if you were nof tK»™ And ,e wondered. Mrs. MacdomUd, ifV-d ;1 hu" •«i- » PENNY PLAIN ggg ^If^ . [ '"^'' ^*» """•'l «» the country round, and then you would motor down with th^^nd jom u, at Mintera Abbas for another week D>rthi^ jou can spare the tin.e ? J<»u, would Iik„ y„„ " ^\tt W own house, and I n«dn't «.y how honoured iT would . 'w^!r r." "u"* ^"- ^"^o^i- "That would mean ^hole fortmght away from Prionrford. You could "Tango about the preaching, John, but what abour^he Z°fh r?'"^' Agnos is a'^goed c^turorhu iwtr sure that she scrubs behind the shutters; thev're "he dd' f.^.oned kmd, and n,^.! a lot of cleaning/ H„we,e^' with a deep s.gh, "if, very kind of you to a* T^'d LZ T,T """'•.•'"■'' """^ '"""> "PPortunitL of ona Dear mo, Joan, I don't understand how vou can at mme. Have you not a qualm ?" ^^ Jean shook her head and laughed, and Mr. lUcdonald ehZX\anUr"^'°^- '^'''^"^^^^ ' For neTer was there mich a tale of wo# Aa tbiB of Juliet and her Borneo.' " Mrs. Macdonald shook her head and sighed, eyes twinkle and they ifft herlau^hi^?^ ^'"" ^" .lM.^t^S,Xhf&, CHAPTER XXV ^bjr flaint Anne, do I. . . . M.da.n la?I;. . . . Would 'twert The Taming of the Shrew. JEAN awoke early on her wedding morning and Hj ^ and thonght oyer the twenty-three ye«, of her liil and wondered what she had done to b^ so bl«^, fo^ looking back, ,t seemed one long s„cce»ion of aunny d.™^ tl L r^r'' T^ ^ inconsiderable looking b«dc a. tobehardly worth thinking about "« "tJi a» Her window faced the cast, and the morning ann shone ^uld relrlh^** ""f ", ^"^ ^^^- Thronghle wall she could hear Mhor, who always woke early, busy at some tZt\ l^^'T'"^ ^""^ complained of finding the ITA .,""".'' '^ ^■^'^- He was sin^ng a toTw.™ I A ^^, '"'?,'"' """gl'tiness and his endear- K" id-S r '""''' '"'.""^' '^ '^"'■•y off""'**!- W iS^ A V companion of her childhood who Jite under the iron rule of Great-aunt Alison, who under- ^t«d aa no one d.e could ever qnite understand, no^t^ fut 5 W ■ ?,"' "? '•■« "'™g''* of Biddy, she ,prang out of bed, and leaning out of the window she turned her face to Little St. Ma.-y's, where her love waT ^1 where presently she would join him. ^ 304 PENNY PLAIN •05 Five hourt later she would stand with kia in the church among tlio blo.^iioms, and tboy would bo made man and wifo, joined together till death did them part Jean folded her hands on the window-sill. She Mi aolcmn and quiet and very happy. Shi ha.l not ha.l much time for thinking in the last few .lays, and she was glad of this quiet hour. It was good on her w.-dding morning to toll over in hor mind, like Wads on a rosary, the excollont qualities of hor dear love. Could there \yo another sucJi in the wide world ? Pamela was happy with Lewis El- liot and Lewis waa kind and good and in every way de- lightful, but compared with Richard Plantagenet In this pt-destrian world her Biddy had something of the old ^valier graca Also, he had more than a streak of Ariel. Would ho bo content always to be settled at homo? lie thought so now, but Anyway, she wouldn't try to bind him down to keep him to domesticity, making an eaglo into a barndoor fowl ; she would go with him whore she could go, and where she would bo a burden she would send him alone and keep a high heart, till she could welcome hun home. But it was high time that she had her bath and dressed. It would bo a morning of dressing, for about 10:30 she would have to dress again for her wedding. The obvious course was to breakfast in bed, but Jean had rejected the idea as 'stuffy." To waste the last morning of April in bed with crumbs of toast and a tray was unthinkable, and by 9 30 Joan was at the station giving Mhor an hour with his beloved locomotors. Ticr^^li T'^^ ^'^® *^ ^°™® ^ Mintem Abbaa, won't you, -Mhor ?" she said. Mhor consioered. "I would have liked it better," he confessed, "{{ there had been a railway line quite near. It was silly of who^ ever built it to put it so far away." :,'• ■ X \-ft:x I Mir...«bk ^^ PENNY PLAIN ^h!y *!V'"'* \ .?'"''. '"^^"^^ ^^«^" railway.," wi.i n.Cr"'" *""*' " ^""'' '^ ^^'"'*^''-" ^^^'^ ^«°'t that bo tlJ'I? ^|'^^*"*7''« *^'" «iff""l down at Inst. That'll be U.e axpros^H to I..„,|o„. I ean hoar tho n,nr of it alrea y " white cloth a>at and skirt, and a clonotitting hat with Moroary w.np. Everything, was simple, bn^evcrytTin^ waa cxqui8.U»ly fresh and dainty everytiiing Pamela drossod her, Mrs. Macdonald looking on, and Mawson fluttermg about, admiring but incompeLt " '^""""thing old and wmething new, Somethmg borrowed and aomething blue,' " Mrs Maedonald quoted. "Have you got them all, Jean f» mnfl JJ" .r^ ^ !° «"* ^ ^^^ handkerchief that was my mother'^that s old. And blue ribbon in my und^ & ^^ '" ^'"'^^ ^^^'^'* prayer-boik, for I And the sun is shining," said Pamela, "so you're for- tified against ill-luck." ''^ has washed his face this morning. I didn't noticT^t breakfast, and he's such an oddlild, ^^llT::l bit of himself and neglect his face. Perhaps you'U Z member to look, Mrs. Macdonald, when you ^e wTuThf^ 3trs. Macdonald smil. 1 at Jean's maternal tona loini"^^ !r^-^ "/ f^"' *'^^''" «^« «a»^' "«o I ought to iu ^^ -^^**^ *^ '^^« after" Mhor went in the car with Jean and Pamela and Mra. #s ■-^J PENNY PI^\IN .107 Macdontld. Tlio others had gono on in Ix>rd IJidbor- ough'a car, aa Mr. Macdonald wantcl ti> soo tho vicar bo- fore the wrvico. Tho vicur had ju,ko •' '^o "«"" "te "".ck th. Uhorl^^T '• ''i.^f "-J'*" "d Davie «,d Jock uid tion .?rk \*T' ^"'°'-"'' ""^y "»« it with the un° tjo^rU. which ooe ..„g, the .ong. of Zion by B.byl«n^ ■'Throiitli .Mb perpteitag p,u, „, jf. Our WMdtriiig fooutepi guide, Oin w eich d.7 our d»U» bmd And raiment lit provide. O q„,,d Thy coToring win,. .roMd Till all our waaderinin ceaae, And at our Father 'a loved abode Our aoula arrive in peace." Chit in the sunshine, among the blossoms, Jean stood with her husband and was kissed and blessed ''Jean Lady Bidborough," said Pamela. h. T ? lT^^'"^" l^'^Jr^' "^ ^"'^^ Wot Jean would be Lady Bidborough. What a joke I" "She doesn't look any different." Mhor complained PENNY PI^IN g0j "A. high « ny bcrt," Mid I^„| Bidboroui*. "The correct heighl, Mhor." ^ ^ no ipeeche., and no ono tried to Iw funny Jo.k rrtuW J«n for cting too much. -'If, not "l.'."Jr..* '"."'.'' '" '"" "">" """ ""• l-'P-" tho «me thing h.p,K.n«l. 1)V„,. .„„..,„k,,, ,^™ ^ o« war. Uie m.nirter .nd I w.. tlio brido, «,d I h.dmr pinafore buttoned down tho front to loolc 'g,„„ „! „J r.wlL^ " • '"^' ',"'' '°°'° ••'"tbrcad, .nd we m«l. -tr.wber^ wino ourselvee. And at tl,o wcdding^fjut Tommy Sprott ^ddonly pointed at n,eand «iid, Tu, SJf, The whole Tillage turned out to .ee the newlyraarried It Wt Mhor afre.h to ,eo the dops barking- happilv whUe Peter, who would «. havo enjoyed a fisht with bon, w« .pending a bor.ng day in the «abl<.y.rd, b„t Jean co" Abbl " " '^°''«'" "^ ^<"*'''' '■"'•e'" " iti-"*™ .3'" "'°^"' Plantagenet mind if he chaaes rabbit.?" Ton won't, will you, Biddy ?» Joan said. of tb;l* • J ^''"'" "»"'' '«"'*" "«« »"-! 'ho wrath A. th.?;?"' ""* T-' ''" '"^ "">^«' "■!■.»? he like.." «"a. I vo always wondered what people talked about ■'vE.5 ''.i^ 1 Rr . 't.71,- 810 PENNY VlJilS whrn thojr wont awajr „„ their wcl.ling umrtrnV* Tboy con t ulk : ihoy ju»i lc«,k into oac-h otht^r*. mm III a «>rt of wMM^, itylng, 'U it If h it thou V " ThMt w.Mil.l l« pretty .illy," Hai.l Joan. -Wo •han't do that anyway." Hpf hitfilNinil laughoil. "YoH «ro r..«lly very liko .[.K-k. niv J.nin. . . . D'vnu rotnrmlKtr what your a.lmiro.l Dr. .Iohn«.n Mild f 'If I had no diitio. I would .p,.nd n.y lift, i„ .Jriviuff briskly i„ a rM..t-ch«,«. w a pretty wc,„.«„, but ,},„ ,i.„„|,i ^ „„^ who could undrrntand m« «n.| would ad.i H^.tnothiiiir to Uie oonvomtion ' Wi^ooldtnan! Toll m.. Penny-plain, youro not frotting alK>ut having tho l>ov.? You'll t^ I^lTlutlT?''" * ^"^ '^"^'- "^^ ^"" *^^'"*^ ^'^^'"8 '"« -My dear you don't 8uppo«. the boyg comr first now, do you? r love th«m oh dearly «s evor I did, hut com- pared with you^-it'M MO different, absolutely different-I can t explain. I don't lovo you liko people in book., all on fire and gaying wonderful things all Urn time. But to be with you filb me with utter content T told you that night in TT.,^ . ,n that the boy« filled mv life. And then Jon w^ent away, and I found that though I had the boys myj.fe and my heart were empty. You arc my life, "My WesBod child." About four o'clock they came homa. An upland country of pastures and shallow dale, fell quietly to tho nver levels, and on a low spur that was ita «" i;-^/^;>«d Mintem Abh,.s, a thing half of the hills and half of the broad valleys. At its back, bev- 1 the homf^wjMxls was a remote land of «heep walks 'and for- gott^ hamlete; at its feet the young Thames in lazy reaches wound through water-meadows. Down the sbpes PENNY PI«\IN 811 of old pattum foil <-^...|«, „f .Uff.Klib, an.) in U.o trinf^ of Urn oiippip*^ lay tbo hluo hwse of wild hyaclntlw, Th© houw WBA H,) wholly in tunc with Uio liin.|-««|)o that tha c>'i- dul not at on.v detint it, f.,r iu ^ahU* mi^hi huvo bwn iHirt of wockI or hilUidf. It waa of «u»n«, and built in many |wriotl» anrgt*, had by some al.hmny Uyorno ono. r.»ae« anti long njonioriea were in every lino of it and that air of a homo which bolonK^ only to pla.^ that have been lovo.1 for g..nerutioni.. It breaUi.Hl ca«e and comfort, but yet had a tonic vigour in It, for while it Ht.K>d kneo»dei.p in the groon valley ita head waa fanned by moorland winda. "^ Jean held her breath ati she saw it. Tt seomed to her the mo!»t |»c)rf.' ^^^' ^"^ '^^'^^ I ^-^ i» that It would be just a little 'stuwnon.o' if you hud nothinir to do but love all tlie time." nothing ''I'm Scots, partly, but I'm not «o S^-ota a-s all that What does 'stawsomo' moan exactly V "It moans," Jean began, and he^itated-'Tni afrai'' ll meana — sickening." -^ "» airai . u Her husband laijghed as ho sat down besido her. Im willing to believe that you mean to bo moxt .vm- phmentary than you sound. I'm very certain you would never e^bv.>making l^ome 'stawsome'. . / The e sa'^dwth Th'-'^ir f"-^' ^^"'^ ^- -^^- ^-e a sandwich ? This ,s the first time we've ever had tea alone, myself." '"^ ''""' P™" ^°" everything "Like King Cophetua. I've no doubt it was all rioht denendpnt n„ l- ^ " generous a man is, to be diCet. '/tLrwhrn r^ '"""^ "^"'' •« ■>'- ^''^ work the n,»n 7' • I °°'' " P°°''- Then they both 'But Tha -HhT ^rT/"r'^ °f «""^"'«- Money only matters Jhef^^u hl^'t '^^t a'ny " """^^ ' U wise ycr-ng Judge I" ■^' wm^^ PENNY PLAIN SIS I 'No, it's really quite a wise statoment whan you think of it^ . . . let's go outsida I want to seo the river noar. Sho turned while going out at the door and looked with groat flatisfaction on the room Uiat waa to be her own "I am glad of this room, Biddy. It has such a kind feeling. Tho other rooms are lovely, but they are meant for crowds of people. This says tea, and a fire and a bo^ and a friend— tho four nicest things in the world." They wuJkod slowly down to tho river. "Swans!" said Jean, "and a boat I" "In Shelley's dreams of Heaven there is always a river and a boat— I read that somewhere. . . . Well, what do you think of Mintem Abbas? Did I overpraiUf" Jean shook her head. "That wouldn't be easy. It's the most wonderful place . . . like a dream. Look at it now in the afternoon light, pale gold like honey. ^Vnd the odd thing is it's in the very heart of England, and yet it might almost be Scotland." "I thought that would appeal to you. Will you learn to love it, do you think ?" "I shan't have to learn. I Ic . it already." "And feel it home?" "Yes . . . but, Biddy, there^s just one thing. I shall love our home with all my heart and be absolutely con- tOTt here if you promise me one thing--that when I d'"r I II be taken to Priorsford. . . . I know it's nonsens- 1 know It doesn't matter where the pickle dust that waa me lies, but I don't think I could be quite happy if I didn t know that one day I should lie within sound of Iwecd. . . . You're laughing, Biddy." "My darling, like you I've sometimes wondered what people talked about on their honeymoon, but never in my wildest imaginings did I dream that they talked of where they would like to be buried." au I PENNY PLAIN Jean hid an abaahed faco for a moment aaingt W Its all the fault of your Oreat-aunt Aliso ,. TeU me Joan g,rl-no, I'm not laughing^how will thia day Iwk from your doath-bed ?" ^ Jean looked at the ri.^or, then she looked into her hua- band 8 eyes and put both her handa into his. A^ my dear love," ahe aaid softly, "if that day lea™ me «.y remembrance of what I feel ;;d.y I* I tJolZ «o have l..ed that I'll go out of the world cheLig"*^ THS eud i 1 1^ 1 t her ghed. 1 me, look hus- Javes glad I t- ■T ..j"