'Thanks!'
'--because I'm gaun to tell ye a' aboot it, Christina, an' ask ye
kindly to forgive me. Ay, I'm gaun to tell ye
everything--everything! But I canna think,' he blundered on, 'I'm
sayin', I canna think hoo I happened to get yer monkey up to begin
wi'----'
'Excuse me!' she cried, indignant. 'My monkey up, indeed!'
'Weel, maybe it wasna exac'ly yer monkey up; but I want to ken what
way ye didna write a nicer letter afore ye gaed awa'. Nae doobt ye
was in a hurry, but it jist seemed as if ye didna care a button for
me. Maybe ma letter to you wasna the thing, either, but I was that
hurt when I wrote it, an' ye might ha'e understood hoo I was
feelin'. Christina, tell me what was wrang that ye gaed awa' like
yon. Was ye--was ye fed up wi' me?'
Christina took up a pencil and began to spoil it with a patent
sharpener. 'Really, it is not worth while discussing,' she said.
'What? No worth while? Oh, hoo can ye say a thing like
that! . . . But maybe I best tell ye ma ain story first.'
'Many thanks. But I'm afraid I'm not deeply interested in any
story of yours.' She was almost sorry the next moment. It was just
as if she had struck him.
Presently he recovered a little. 'Christina,' he said quietly,
'that's no true.'
'Hoo daur ye!' she cried, forgetting her 'fine English' as well as
her haughty pose.
'If it was true, it wud mean that ye've been judgin' me unfair,
kennin' it was unfair, an' I'll never believe ye wud dae
that. . . . So, Christina dear, listen to me an' gi'e me a chance.'
'Oh, what's the use,' she sighed with sudden weariness, 'what's the
use o' pretendin', Macgreegor?'
'Wha's pretendin'?'
'You! What's the use o' pretendin' ye're hurt? Fine ye ken I'm no
the--the only girl in the world.'
'There's no anither like ye!'
'Weel,' she said drily, 'that means variety, does it no?' She drew
a long breath and moved back from the counter. 'I want to be as
fair as I can, so perhaps I'd best ask ye a straight question.'
'Ask it!' he said eagerly.
'Wha's Maggie?'
He was taken aback, but less so than she had expected, and possibly
that increased her bitterness.
'She's a girl,' he began.
'I could ha'e guessed that much. What sort o' girl?' she demanded,
and wished she had held her tongue.
'She--she's kin' o' fat----'
'Fat!' Christina uttered the word with as much disgust as she
would have evinced had she been handed a pound of streaky bacon
without the paper. 'How delightful! Anything else in the way of
charms?'
'Christina, gi'e me a chance, an' I'll tell ye a' aboot it.'
'Not another word! How long have you enjoyed the young lady's
acquaintance?'
'Only a couple o' evenin's, but----'
'Case of love at first sight, I suppose!'
He flared up. 'If ye hadna left me I wud never ha'e met her. If
ye had wrote me a dacent letter----'
'Whisht, man!' she said in momentary pity. 'Ye're talkin' like a
wean.'
'I canna help it. I'm that fond o' ye. An' it's no as if I had
done a black crime. It was a pure accident----'
'Jist like a penny novel,' she interrupted merciless again. 'Weel,
I'm sure ye're welcome to ha'e as mony girls as ye like--only,
ye'll ha'e to leave me oot. That's a'!' She took out her purse
and from it something small which, stepping forward, she laid on
the counter near him. Her engagement ring!
After a moment of strained silence--'Christina!' he gasped;
'Christina! ye canna mean it serious!'
'Good-bye,' she said stiffly, stepping back.
'But--but ye ha'ena heard ma story. It's no fair----'
'Oh,' she cried harshly, 'dinna keep on at that tune!'
All at once he drew himself up. 'Noo I see what ye mean,' he said
in an almost even voice. 'Ye had made up yer mind to be quit o'
me. Still, it wud ha'e been honester to say ye was fed up to ma
face. Weel, I'm no blamin' ye, an' I canna force ye to listen to
ma story, no that it wud be worth ma while noo to shame masel' wi'
the tellin'. I'll no even ask ye hoo ye cam' to hear aboot Maggie.
Maggie's jist an or'nar' girl, an' I'm jist an or'nar' chap that
done a stupid thing because he couldna think what else to dae.
Weel, ye'll sune forget me, an' maybe I'll sune forget you--wi' the
help o' a bullet----'
'Oh, dinna!' she whispered.
'An' as for this'--he picked up the ring and let it drop on the
floor--'to hell wi' sich nonsense!'--and ground it under his heel.
'So long!' he said, and went out quickly.