WHAT IS TO HAPPEN NEXT?
No contrast would be more complete or more refreshing to Angus than the
state of affairs below to that which he was constantly witnessing at the
farm. With Ella and her brothers everything prospered; and their
external prosperity was not alloyed by troubles from within. The boys
used in former days to think there was no fault in Ella, and would have
been highly offended if any one had spoken of a time when they would
love her better, and be happier with her. That time had, however, come.
They were grateful to her for the new virtue to which time gave
rise,—the virtue of remembering that they were no longer children, and
of surrendering her authority accordingly, by natural degrees, and
before the change was demanded or even wished for. She waited to be
consulted about their little plans, asked their advice about her own,
and, still better, not only smiled indulgently upon their mirth as
formerly, but took part in it as if years were rolling backward over her
head. On her part, she felt that her brothers were her friends because
they loved Angus devotedly; and, as for Angus, all was, of course, right
in his eyes in a household whose chief bond was attachment to himself
and devotion to the interests which were most dear to him. He passed
every half hour that he could spare from his duties at the farm among
his friends below, now pointing out what ought to be done in the field,
now helping Ronald to strew and dry and stack his weed, now cutting peat
with Fergus, now singing songs or climbing rocks with Archie, but
oftenest talking with Ella in the cottage. He never could carry his
point of rowing her out to fish. She always declared that it would keep
him absent from the farm too long, and that she had had experience
enough in managing her nets to perform all the labour of that kind that
would be necessary till the herrings came again. She could not, however,
prevent his following her with his eyes. He now prized his excellent
glass more than ever, and twenty times in a morning he would fix it in
the direction of her boat, and watch and admire her proceedings. How
delicately and securely she kept clear of every sunken rock, how
steadily she plied her oars against wind and tide, how courteously she
answered a salute from a passing skiff, how firmly she stood on the
thwarts to throw her nets, how powerfully she drew them in, how
evidently she enjoyed setting her bark with its head to the wind, and
making every sudden gust serve her purpose and help to bring her home!
All this Angus saw; and seeing it, pronounced that there was no more
fitting occupation for such a woman as Ella than fishing; but then,
there were few such women—and he smiled at the thought. He had seen
young ladies angling in a trout stream; and this was pretty sport
enough; but here was an employment requiring strength, presence of mind,
dexterity, and patience: it was therefore a fitting employment for such
an one as Ella, and none but such as Ella could pursue it with success.
That success was great and well husbanded. Ella remembered that this
was, perhaps, the only year that she might appropriate the whole
produce, and she therefore stored what she could as capital to improve
the quantity and quality of her produce when she should hold her croft
on lease. She hoped to have money to lay out in improving the soil, and
not only to keep her nets and casks and boat in repair, but to purchase
a better boat and various conveniences for procuring and salting a
larger quantity of fish. She wished her brothers to do the same; and, to
set them going, made certain purchases of each. She paid Fergus for
whatever fuel was wanted for her own purposes, over and above that which
was used for the common convenience of the household. She bought weed to
manure her field from Ronald, and was pleased to find that he applied
his little fund in taking in the lot of moorland which he always looked
forward to rendering productive. She went every day to see what was
done, and often listened to Angus’s prophesy that it might be made a
very serviceable field in time, and would probably yield enough the next
season to prove that it was worth the tillage.
Thus were affairs proceeding when Angus appeared with a face of
surprise, one fine spring evening, and asked who could be coming to
settle in the next cove, round the point. As they did not know what he
meant, he proceeded to explain that a dwelling was being built just
above the beach. Ronald had not been visiting his shore for some days,
and knew neither of the arrival of workmen with their rude materials,
nor of any business of the kind going forward in the neighbourhood.
Nothing could be learned from the workmen, more choice in respect of
indolence and awkwardness than even the Highland workmen in general. All
they could tell was that they came by Mr. Callum’s orders, that they
were to build a house with two rooms of certain dimensions, and to get
the work finished as fast as possible for the purpose of being entered
by the tenant at Midsummer. Murdoch only smiled when Angus told the fact
on his return, and said that they must ask Mr. Callum what the new house
was for.
“Suppose,” he continued, “your packet-boat, that you reckon such an
advantage, should have tempted somebody to come and fish in rivalship of
Ella! What would you say then?”
“What I have said before,—the more the better, while there is produce
and a market. A market once opened, there is room for many; and then
there are all the advantages of neighbourhood and traffic, while there
are still enough for everybody, and will be for a long time to come.
Ella will be very happy to pay rent, if at the same time she can sell
her produce to better advantage, and buy what she wants cheaper, and
with more ease, and have good neighbours around her.”
“We shall see all about it when Mr. Callum comes,” was Murdoch’s reply.
“Yes, everything is to be done when Mr. Callum comes,” said Angus,
smiling. “This new house is to be occupied, and Ella and the boys are to
have a lease, and——”
“And you, Angus?——”
“And I am to take my first trip in my packet-boat, and——” Here he smiled
again, for he was thinking of another event which was to be connected
with this first trip; but Murdoch, as usual, misunderstood him, and took
this for a smile of malice. “And I,” continued Angus, “am to be paid my
dues, neighbour, I hope.”
“That you shall be, I promise you,” answered Murdoch, to whom the smile
of malice properly belonged.
It was observed that the Murdochs took great interest in the progress of
this new dwelling. They were now all as able to work as they had ever
been, the spring weather having restored their strength; but their
invalid habits accorded too well with the taste of the family to be
readily given up. The father still muffled himself in his plaid, and sat
with folded arms on a large stone on the beach, looking with half-shut
eyes at the builders, and leaving Angus to work his own pleasure at the
farm. Murdoch’s wife still complained as much of her fatigues and cares
as if the cribs were yet occupied by patients in the fever. Rob still
kept his fingers in his mouth and lay in the sun, when the sun shone, or
before the fire when the day was foggy. Meg and her sister still
disregarded their mother’s troubles, and whenever they could make their
escape, ran down to play pranks with the workmen, and to do mischief to
their work as soon as they turned their backs. All were clamorous alike
when anything went wrong,—which happened every day,—and blame was
divided between the two who alone kept matters going at all,—the
farmer’s wife and the farmer’s man. If the poultry were missing, the
cattle trampling the corn, the pig oversetting the milk-pails, the eggs
broken among the oatmeal, the farming utensils injured or not to be
found, there was a contention who should rail the loudest at mother or
Angus; and the only means of restoring quiet was to turn out the young
folks into the yard. Their father alone was strong enough both in limb
and will to do this—their mother not having bodily strength, nor Angus
inclination for a scuffle. Even this extreme measure only removed the
evil one degree, for the boy and girls, having pushed in vain at the
door, and thrown everything within reach at the window, (which, being
unglazed, received little injury,) ran down to plague the builders
below, as they had plagued the authorities above. Murdoch often swore
that it was time to give up farming, for it was a kind of life to kill a
peaceable man like him, and then he appealed to Angus, whether he did
not say truth; and when Angus could not agree with him, the usual reply
of the bitter laugh was sure to come.
At length, just before Midsummer-day, news arrived that Angus’s boat was
on its way, and that he might go in two days and meet her off the coast
below Scarba, and bring her home to her destination himself. Mr. Callum
sent word at the same time that he should land in Garveloch the next day
from Oban, and expected that every one would be ready to transact
business so as to occasion no delay. Nobody wished for delay. Murdoch
fancied that he should find ease and domestic peace in a change of
employment, and had already thrown his pride behind him. Angus believed
himself within three days of the marriage on which all his hopes had
been built for many years. Ella contented herself with saying that her
rent was ready; and the lads were eager to be in possession of the lease
which should secure to their sister and themselves the fruits of their
industry.
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