MALCOLM
by George MacDonald
CHAPTER I: MISS HORN
"Na, na; I hae nae feelin's, I'm thankfu' to say. I never kent ony
guid come o' them. They're a terrible sicht i' the gait."
"Naebody ever thoucht o' layin' 't to yer chairge, mem."
"'Deed, I aye had eneuch adu to du the thing I had to du, no to
say the thing 'at naebody wad du but mysel'. I hae had nae leisur'
for feelin's an' that," insisted Miss Horn.
But here a heavy step descending the stair just outside the
room attracted her attention, and checking the flow of her speech
perforce, with three ungainly strides she reached the landing.
"Watty Witherspail! Watty!" she called after the footsteps down
the stair.
"Yes, mem," answered a gruff voice from below.
"Watty, whan ye fess the bit boxie, jist pit a hemmer an' a puckle
nails i' your pooch to men' the hen hoose door. The tane maun be
atten't till as weel's the tither."
"The bit boxie" was the coffin of her third cousin Griselda Campbell,
whose body lay on the room on her left hand as she called down the
stair. Into that on her right Miss Horn now re-entered, to rejoin
Mrs Mellis, the wife of the principal draper in the town, who had
called ostensibly to condole with her, but really to see the corpse.
"Aih! she was taen yoong!" sighed the visitor, with long drawn
tones and a shake of the head, implying that therein lay ground of
complaint, at which poor mortals dared but hint.
"No that yoong," returned Miss Horn. "She was upo' the edge o'
aucht an' thirty."
"Weel, she had a sair time o' 't."
"No that sair, sae far as I see--an' wha sud ken better? She's
had a bien doon sittin' (sheltered quarters), and sud hae had as
lang's I was to the fore. Na, na; it was nowther sae young nor yet
sae sair."
"Aih! but she was a patient cratur wi' a' flesh," persisted Mrs
Mellis, as if she would not willingly be foiled in the attempt to
extort for the dead some syllable of acknowledgment from the lips
of her late companion.
"'Deed she was that!--a wheen ower patient wi' some. But that
cam' o' haein mair hert nor brains. She had feelin's gien ye like--
and to spare. But I never took ower ony o' the stock. It's a pity
she hadna the jeedgment to match, for she never misdoobted onybody
eneuch. But I wat it disna maitter noo, for she's gane whaur it's
less wantit. For ane 'at has the hairmlessness o' the doo 'n this
ill wulled warl', there's a feck o' ten 'at has the wisdom o' the
serpent. An' the serpents mak sair wark wi' the doos--lat alane
them 'at flees into the verra mouws o' them."
"Weel, ye're jist richt there," said Mrs Mellis. "An' as ye say,
she was aye some easy to perswaud. I hae nae doubt she believed to
the ver' last he wad come back and mairry her."
"Come back and mairry her! Wha or what div ye mean? I jist tell ye
Mistress Mellis--an' it's weel ye're named--gien ye daur to
hint at ae word o' sic clavers, it's this side o' this door o' mine
ye's be less acquant wi'."
As she spoke, the hawk eyes of Miss Horn glowed on each side of
her hawk nose, which grew more and more hooked as she glared, while
her neck went craning forward as if she were on the point of making
a swoop on the offender. Mrs Mellis's voice trembled with something
like fear as she replied:
"Gude guide 's, Miss Horn! What hae I said to gar ye look at me
sae by ordinar 's that?"
"Said!" repeated Miss Horn, in a tone that revealed both annoyance
with herself and contempt for her visitor. "There's no a claver in
a' the countryside but ye maun fess 't hame aneth yer oxter, as
gin 't were the prodigal afore he repentit. Ye's get sma thanks for
sic like here. An' her lyin' there as she'll lie till the jeedgment
day, puir thing!"
"I'm sure I meant no offence, Miss Horn," said her visitor. "I
thocht a' body kent 'at she was ill about him."
"Aboot wha, i' the name o' the father o' lees?"
"Ow, aboot that lang leggit doctor 'at set oat for the Ingies, an'
dee'd afore he wan across the equautor. Only fouk said he was nae
mair deid nor a halvert worm, an' wad be hame whan she was merried."
"It's a' lees frae heid to fiit, an' frae bert to skin."
"Weel, it was plain to see she dwyned awa efter he gaed, an' never
was hersel' again--ye dinna deny that?"
"It's a' havers," persisted Miss Horn, but in accents considerably
softened. "She cared na mair aboot the chield nor I did mysel'.
She dwyned, I grant ye, an' he gaed awa, I grant ye; but the win'
blaws an' the water rins, an the tane has little to du wi' the
tither."
"Weel, weel; I'm sorry I said onything to offen' ye, an' I canna
say mair. Wi' yer leave, Miss Horn, I'll jist gang an' tak' a last
leuk at her, puir thing!"
"'Deed, ye s' du naething o' the kin'! I s' lat nobody glower at her
'at wad gang an spairge sic havers about her, Mistress Mellis. To
say 'at sic a doo as my Grizel, puir, saft hertit, winsome thing,
wad hae lookit twice at ony sic a serpent as him! Na, na, mem! Gang
yer wa's hame, an' come back straucht frae yer prayers the morn's
mornin'. By that time she'll be quaiet in her coffin, an' I'll be
quaiet i' my temper. Syne I'll lat ye see her--maybe.--I wiss
I was weel rid o' the sicht o' her, for I canna bide it. Lord, I
canna bide it."
These last words were uttered in a murmured aside, inaudible to
Mrs Mellis, to whom, however, they did not apply, but to the dead
body. She rose notwithstanding in considerable displeasure, and with
a formal farewell walked from the room, casting a curious glance
as she left it in the direction of that where the body lay, and
descended the stairs as slowly as if on every step she deliberated
whether the next would bear her weight. Miss Horn, who had followed
her to the head of the stair, watched her out of sight below the
landing, when she turned and walked back once more into the parlour,
but with a lingering look towards the opposite room, as if she saw
through the closed door what lay white on the white bed.
"It's a God's mercy I hae no feelin's," she said to herself. "To
even (equal) my bonny Grizel to sic a lang kyte clung chiel as
yon! Aih, puir Grizel! She's gane frae me like a knotless threid."
