"Ah!" I cried, "I've been thinking of the other Peter Macnab, the
painter in Lochee."
"Sally's 'usband lives in a plyce called Magdalen Green."
"Ah! I understand now, Mrs. Lewis. I've met that one too; you're quite
right about his character."
If I ever write a book of aphorisms I shall certainly include this one:
Never claim an acquaintance with a lady's relations by marriage.
I wandered along Fleet Street to-day, the most fascinating street in
London ... and the most disappointing. To understand Fleet Street you
must walk along the Strand at midday. The Londoner is the most childish
creature on earth. If a workman opens a drain cap the traffic is held up
by the crowds who push forward to glimpse the pipes below. If a black
man walks along the Strand half a hundred people will follow him on the
off chance that he may be Jack Johnson. London is the most provincial
place in Britain. I have eaten cookies in Princes Street in Edinburgh,
and I have eaten buns in Piccadilly. The London audience was the
greater. Audience! the word derives from the Latin _audio_: I hear. That
won't do to describe my eating; spectators is the word.
I wandered about all day, and the interests of the streets kept my
thoughts away from that little station in the north. Now it is evening,
and my thoughts are free to wander.
A few of them would see Macdonald arrive to-day, and I think that in
wondering at him they will have forgotten me. Children live for the
hour; their griefs are as ephemeral as their joys, and the ephemeralism
of their emotion is as wonderful as its intensity. A boy will bury his
brother in the afternoon, and scream at Charlie Chaplin in the evening.
He will forget Charlie again, though, when he lies alone in the big
double bed at night.
Jim and Janet and Jean and the rest have loved me well, but I have no
illusions about their love. Children are painfully docile. In two weeks
they will accept Macdonald's iron rule without question, just as they
accepted my absence of rule without question. Yet I wonder ...! Perhaps
the love of freedom that I gave them will make them critical now. I know
that they gradually developed a keen sense of justice. It was just a
fortnight ago that Peter Shaw was reported to me as a slayer of young
birds. I formed a jury with Jim Jackson as foreman, and they called for
witnesses.
"Gentlemen of the jury, your verdict?" I said.
Jim stood up.
"Accused is acquitted ... only one witness!"
I used to see them weigh my actions critically, and I had to be very
particular not to show any sign of favouritism--a difficult task, for a
dominie is bound to like some bairns better than others. Will they apply
this method to Macdonald? I rather think he will beat it out of them. He
is the type of dominie that stands for Authority with the capital A. His
whole bearing shouts: "I am the Law. What I say is right and not to be
questioned."
My poor bairns!