Neil is the culprit, Mrs. Ruleson. It is Neils doing, I assure you. And of course this statement might be, in several ways, the truth. At any rate, the old proverb which advises us never to look a gift horse in the mouth, is a good one. For the motive of the gift is more than the gift itself.
These gifts were all simple enough, but they were such as delighted Margots childlike heart an armful of dahlias or carnations a basket of nectarines or apricots two or three dozen fresh eggs a pot of butter a pair of guinea fowls, then rare in poultry yards, or a brood of young turkeys to feed and fatten for the New Years festival. About these fowls, Neil wrote her elaborate directions. And Margot was more delighted with these simple gifts than many have been with a great estate. And Christine knew, and Angus knew that she knew, and it was a subtle tie between them, made of meeting glances and clasping hands.
CHAPTER IV
THE FISHERMANS FAIR
The winds go up and down upon the sea,
And some they lightly clasp, entreating kindly,
And waft them to the port where they would be:
And other ships they buffet long and blindly.
The cloud comes down on the great sinking deep,
And on the shore, the watchers stand and weep.
So the busy fishing season passed away, and was a very fortunate one, until it was nearly over. Then there were several days of foggy, dismal weather, and one night when the nets were down a sudden violent storm drove from the north, and the boats, being at that time mostly open boats, shipped water at every sea. The greatest hurry and confusion followed, and they were finally compelled to cut the nets adrift, glad indeed to lose all, if they could only make the first shelter. And mothers and wives, standing helpless at the little windows of their cottages, watched the storm, while the men they loved were fighting the furious tempest in the black night.
God help my men! prayed Margot. She was weeping like a child, but yet in her anguish full of faith in Gods mercy, and looking trustfully to Him to send her men home again. Ill neer fret for the nets, she said, theyll hav to go, nae doubt o that. Let them go! But oh, Feyther i heaven, send hame my men folk!
Ah! Women who spend such nights may well call caller herrin the lives o men!
In the misty daylight, the men and the boats came into harbor, but the nets in every boat each net about eight hundred and fifty yards long were totally lost. However, the herring season was practically over. Indeed, the men were at the point of exhaustion, for the total take had been very large, and there is scarcely any human labor more severe on the physical endurance, than the fishing for caller herrin.
It was just at this time that Neil Ruleson had to leave Culraine for Aberdeen. He was to finish his course at the Maraschal College this year, and never before had he gone there so well provided, and never before had he felt so poor. For though he had received the unlooked-for sum of two hundred pounds for his services, he felt it to be unequal to his ambitious requirements, six weeks at Ballister House having taught him to regard many little comforts as absolute necessities.
I am very nearly a lawyer now, he reflected, a professional man, and I must try and look like it, and live like it. The bare room and unfashionable clothing of the past must be changed to more respectable quarters, and more appropriate garments. Of course he knew that Christine would not permit him to injure his future fine prospects, but he had promised to repay the ninety pounds he had borrowed from her out of his first earnings, and he felt that the money was now due, and that he ought to pay it. But if he did so, he must simplify all his plans, and he had taken so much pleasure and pains in arranging the surroundings of his last session, that he was exceedingly loth to surrender even the least important of them.
While he was packing his trunk, and deliberating on this subject, the great storm came, and his father barely saved the boat and the lives of the men in her. The nets were gone, and his mother asked him plainly if he could not help his father to replace them.
I will do so gladly, Mother, he answered, when I have paid my college fees, and the like, I will see what I can spare there is Christines money! he continued, in a troubled, thoughtful manner and Margot answered,
Ay, to be sure. If Christine hadna loaned you her money, it would hae been at her feythers will and want, this moment, but if you are going to keep your word, and pay Christine out o your first earnings, theres nae need to talk wi you. Christine will help your feyther and proud and glad to do the same.
You see, Mother, it is nearly the end of things with me at Aberdeen, and it would be hard if my future was scrimped at its beginning. That is what Ballister thinks. Neil, he said to me, you will have to speak before the public lawyers and people of full standing and you must have the dress that is proper and fitting.
Weel, your feyther will hae to get new nets if he is to mak bread for the lave o us.
The herring season is over now, and there is no immediate expense regarding it.
You are much mistaen, and ye ken it fine! The barrels in which the fish are packed are to pay for, and the women who packed them are not fully paid. The coopers who closed the barrels, and the Fishery Office, hae yet to send in their bills.
The Fishery Office! What have we to do with the Fishery Office? It is a government affair.
Mebbe sae. But the barrels canna be shipped until an officer frae the Fishery Office puts the crown brand on every barrel. Do you think the man does that for naething?
I never heard of such a thing.
Weel, it has to be done, whether Neil Ruleson has heard o the thing or not.
What for?
The crown isna branded on any barrel unless the fish in it are fine, fresh, and unbroken. But as soon as the barrels get the crown, they can be shipped to foreign ports, mostly to Stettin.
Why Stettin?
I dont know. Ask your feyther. You are just making a put-aff wi your questions. Answer me the one question I asked yoursel What can ye do to help your feyther? Answer me that.
Father will not use nets until the next herring season a whole year away in the winter, he always does line fishing. With your help, Christine can weave new nets before they are needed.
I see weel that you dinna intend to pay your debt to Christine, nor yet to help your feyther.
Father has not asked me for help. Everyone knows that father is well fore-handed.
O lad, the dear auld man barely saved the boat and the lives she carried! He has been roughly handled by winds and waves, and may hae to keep his bed awhile, and your brither Eneas is that hurt and bruised, he will neer go fishing again, while your brither Norman has a broken arm, an a wife that has gane into hystericals about the lost nets. Youd think it was her man she was screaming for. And Fae and Tamsen waited too lang, and went oer the boat wi their nets, an theres ithers that hae broken limbs, or joints out o place, or trouble o some sort.
Im very sorry, Mother. If I could do any good to the general ill, I would do it, but if I ruined all my future life I do not see that I could help anyone. I must be just, before I am generous.
To be sure. I hope youll try to be just, for I am vera certain youll neer be generous; and if you are just, youll pay your sister back her ninety pounds.