As soon as the last chain was up, the man rejoined me. He was a mean, stooping, narrow-shouldered, clay-faced creature; and his age might have been anything between fifty and seventy. His nightcap was of flannel, and so was the nightgown that he wore, instead of coat and waistcoat, over his ragged shirt. He was long unshaved; but what most distressed and even daunted me, he would neither take his eyes away from me nor look me fairly in the face. What he was, whether by trade or birth, was more than I could fathom; but he seemed most like an old, unprofitable serving-man, who should have been left in charge of that big house upon board wages.
Are ye sharp-set? he asked, glancing at about the level of my knee. Ye can eat that drop parritch[9]?
I said I feared it was his own supper.
O, said he, I can do fine wanting it. Ill take the ale, though, for it slockens my cough. He drank the cup about half out, still keeping an eye upon me as he drank; and then suddenly held out his hand. Lets see the letter, said he.
I told him the letter was for Mr. Balfour; not for him. And who do ye think I am? says he. Give me Alexanders letter.
You know my fathers name?
It would be strange if I didnae, he returned, for he was my born brother; and little as ye seem to like either me or my house, or my good parritch, Im your born uncle, Davie, my man, and you my born nephew. So give us the letter, and sit down and fill your kyte.
I sat down to the porridge with as little appetite for meat as ever a young man had. Meanwhile, my uncle, stooping over the fire, turned the letter over and over in his hands.
Do ye ken whats in it? he asked, suddenly.
You see for yourself, sir, said I, that the seal has not been broken.
Ay, said he, but what brought you here?
To give the letter, said I.
No, says he, cunningly, but yell have had some hopes, nae doubt?
I confess, sir, said I, when I was told that I had kinsfolk well-to-do, I did indeed indulge the hope that they might help me in my life. But I am no beggar; I look for no favours at your hands, and I want none that are not freely given. For as poor as I appear, I have friends of my own that will be blithe to help me.
Hoot-toot! said Uncle Ebenezer, dinnae fly up in the snuff at me. Well agree fine yet. And, Davie, my man, if youre done with that bit parritch, I could just take a sup of it myself. Ay, he continued, as soon as he had ousted me from the stool and spoon, theyre fine, halesome[10] food theyre grand food, parritch. Your father was very fond of his meat, I mind; he was a hearty, if not a great eater; but as for me, I could never do mair[11] than pyke at food.
He continued to eat like a man under some pressure of time, and to throw out little darting glances now at my shoes and now at my home-spun stockings. Once only, when he had ventured to look a little higher, our eyes met; and no thief taken with a hand in a mans pocket could have shown more lively signals of distress. This set me in a muse, whether his timidity arose from too long a disuse of any human company; and whether perhaps, upon a little trial, it might pass off, and my uncle change into an altogether different man. From this I was awakened by his sharp voice.
Your fathers been long dead? he asked.
Three weeks, sir, said I.
He was a secret man, Alexander a secret, silent man, he continued. He never said muckle when he was young. Hell never have spoken muckle of me?
I never knew, sir, till you told it me yourself, that he had any brother.
Dear me, dear me! said Ebenezer. Nor yet of Shaws, I dare say?
Not so much as the name, sir, said I.
To think o that! said he. A strange nature of a man! For all that, he seemed singularly satisfied, but whether with himself, or me, or with this conduct of my fathers, was more than I could read. Certainly, however, he seemed to be outgrowing that distaste, or ill-will, that he had conceived at first against my person; for presently he jumped up, came across the room behind me, and hit me a smack upon the shoulder. Well agree fine yet! he cried. Im just as glad I let you in. And now come awa to your bed.
To my surprise, he lit no lamp or candle, but set forth into the dark passage up a flight of steps, and paused before a door, which he unlocked. He bade me go in, for that was my chamber. I did as he bid, but paused after a few steps, and begged a light to go to bed with.
Hoot-toot! said Uncle Ebenezer, theres a fine moon.
Neither moon nor star, sir, and pit-mirk[12], said I. I cannae see the bed.
Hoot-toot, hoot-toot! said he. Lights in a house is a thing I dinnae agree with. Im unco feared of fires. Good-night to ye, Davie, my man. And before I had time to add a further protest, he pulled the door to, and I heard him lock me in from the outside.
With the first peep of day I opened my eyes, to find myself in a great chamber, hung with stamped leather, furnished with fine embroidered furniture, and lit by three fair windows. Ten years ago it must have been as pleasant a room to lie down or to awake in as a man could wish; but damp, dirt, disuse, and the mice and spiders had done their worst since then; and being very cold in that miserable room, I knocked and shouted till my gaoler came and let me out. He carried me to the back of the house, where was a draw-well, and told me to wash my face there, if I wanted; and when that was done, I made the best of my own way back to the kitchen, where he had lit the fire and was making the porridge.
When we had made an end of our meal, my uncle sat down in the sun at one of the windows and silently smoked. From time to time his eyes came coasting round to me, and he shot out one of his questions. Once it was, And your mother? and when I had told him that she, too, was dead, Ay, she was a bonnie lassie[13]! Then, after another long pause, Whae[14] were these friends o yours? I told him they were different gentlemen of the name of Campbell; though, indeed, there was only one, and that the minister, that had ever taken the least note of me; but I began to think my uncle made too light of my position, and finding myself all alone with him, I did not wish him to suppose me helpless.
He seemed to turn this over in his mind; and then, Davie, my man, said he, yeve come to the right bit when ye came to your uncle Ebenezer. Ive a great notion of the family, and I mean to do the right by you; but while Im taking a bit think to mysel of whats the best thing to put you to whether the law, or the meenistry, or maybe the army, whilk[15] is what boys are fondest of I wouldnae like the Balfours to be humbled before a wheen[16] Hieland Campbells, and Ill ask you to keep your tongue within your teeth. Nae letters; nae messages; no kind of word to onybody; or else theres my door.
Uncle Ebenezer, said I, Ive no manner of reason to suppose you mean anything but well by me. For all that, I would have you to know that I have a pride of my own. It was by no will of mine that I came seeking you; and if you show me your door again, Ill take you at the word.
He seemed grievously put out. Hoots-toots, said he, ca cannie, man ca cannie! Just you give me a day or two, and say naething to naebody, and as sure as sure, Ill do the right by you.
He seemed grievously put out. Hoots-toots, said he, ca cannie, man ca cannie! Just you give me a day or two, and say naething to naebody, and as sure as sure, Ill do the right by you.
Very well, said I, enough said. If you want to help me, theres no doubt but Ill be glad of it, and none but Ill be grateful.
It seemed to me (too soon, I dare say) that I was getting the upper hand of my uncle; and I began next to say that I must have the bed and bedclothes aired and put to sun-dry; for nothing would make me sleep in such a pickle.
Is this my house or yours? said he, in his keen voice, and then all of a sudden broke off. Na, na, said he, I didnae mean that. Whats mine is yours, Davie, my man, and whats yours is mine. Bloods thicker than water; and theres naebody but you and me that ought the name. And then on he rambled about the family, and its ancient greatness, and his father that began to enlarge the house, and himself that stopped the building as a sinful waste.
Ill aff[17] and see the session clerk, uncle said in the end. He was for setting out, when a thought arrested him. I cannae leave you by yoursel in the house, said he. Ill have to lock you out. The blood came to my face. If you lock me out, I said, itll be the last youll see of me in friendship.
Uncle Ebenezer turned very pale, and sucked his mouth in. He went and looked out of the window for awhile. I could see him all trembling and twitching, like a man with palsy. But when he turned round, he had a smile upon his face.
Well, well, said he, we must bear and forbear. Ill no go; thats all thats to be said of it.
Uncle Ebenezer, I said, I can make nothing out of this. You use me like a thief; you hate to have me in this house. Why do you seek to keep me, then? Let me gang back to the friends I have, and that like me!
Na, na; na, na, he said, very earnestly. I like you fine; and for the honour of the house I couldnae let you leave the way ye came. Just you bide here quiet a bittie[18], and yell find that we agree.
Well, sir, said I, after I had thought the matter out in silence, Ill stay awhile. Its more just I should be helped by my own blood than strangers; and if we dont agree, Ill do my best it shall be through no fault of mine.
Chapter IV
I Run a Great Danger in the House of Shaws
For a day that was begun so ill, the day passed fairly well. We had the porridge cold again at noon, and hot porridge at night; porridge and small beer was my uncles diet. He spoke but little, and that in the same way as before, shooting a question at me after a long silence; and when I sought to lead him to talk about my future, slipped out of it again. In a room next door to the kitchen, where he suffered me to go, I found a great number of books, both Latin and English, in which I took great pleasure all the afternoon. Indeed, the time passed so lightly in this good company, that I began to be almost reconciled to my residence at Shaws; and nothing but the sight of my uncle, and his eyes playing hide-and-seek with mine, revived the force of my distrust.
One thing I discovered, which put me in some doubt. This was an entry on the fly-leaf of a chapbook plainly written by my fathers hand and thus conceived: To my brother Ebenezer on his fifth birthday. Now, what puzzled me was this: That, as my father was of course the younger brother, he must either have made some strange error, or he must have written, before he was yet five, an excellent, clear manly hand of writing.
I tried to get this out of my head; but when at length I went back into the kitchen, and sat down once more to porridge and small beer, the first thing I said to Uncle Ebenezer was to ask him if my father had not been very quick at his book.
Alexander? No him! was the reply. I was far quicker mysel; I was a clever chappie when I was young. Why, I could read as soon as he could.
This puzzled me yet more; and a thought coming into my head, I asked if he and my father had been twins.
He jumped upon his stool, and the horn spoon fell out of his hand upon the floor. What gars[19] ye ask that? he said, and he caught me by the breast of the jacket, and looked this time straight into my eyes: his own were little and light, and bright like a birds, blinking and winking strangely.
What do you mean? I asked, very calmly, for I was far stronger than he, and not easily frightened. Take your hand from my jacket. This is no way to behave.
My uncle seemed to make a great effort upon himself. Dod man, David, he said, ye shouldnae speak to me about your father. Thats where the mistake is. He sat awhile and shook, blinking in his plate: He was all the brother that ever I had, he added, but with no heart in his voice; and then he caught up his spoon and fell to supper again, but still shaking.
Now this last passage, this laying of hands upon my person and sudden profession of love for my dead father, went so clean beyond my comprehension that it put me into both fear and hope. On the one hand, I began to think my uncle was perhaps insane and might be dangerous; on the other, there came up into my mind (quite unbidden by me and even discouraged) a story like some ballad I had heard folk singing, of a poor lad that was a rightful heir and a wicked kinsman that tried to keep him from his own. For why should my uncle play a part with a relative that came, almost a beggar, to his door, unless in his heart he had some cause to fear him?
Davie, he said, at length, Ive been thinking; then he paused, and said it again. Theres a wee bit siller[20] that I half promised ye before ye were born, he continued; promised it to your father. O, naething legal, ye understand; just gentlemen dafing at their wine. Well, I keepit[21] that bit money separate it was a great expense, but a promise is a promise and it has grown by now to be a matter of just precisely just exactly and here he paused and stumbled of just exactly forty pounds! This last he rapped out with a sidelong glance over his shoulder; and the next moment added, almost with a scream, Scots!
The pound Scots being the same thing as an English shilling, the difference made by this second thought was considerable; I could see, besides, that the whole story was a lie, invented with some end which it puzzled me to guess; and I made no attempt to conceal the tone of raillery in which I answered
O, think again, sir! Pounds sterling, I believe!
Thats what I said, returned my uncle: pounds sterling! And if youll step out-by to the door a minute, just to see what kind of a night it is, Ill get it out to ye and call ye in again.
I did his will, smiling to myself in my contempt that he should think I was so easily to be deceived. It was a dark night, with a few stars low down; and as I stood just outside the door, I heard a hollow moaning of wind far off among the hills. I said to myself there was something thundery and changeful in the weather, and little knew of what a vast importance that should prove to me before the evening passed.
When I was called in again, my uncle counted out into my hand seven and thirty golden guinea[22] pieces; the rest was in his hand, in small gold and silver; but his heart failed him there, and he crammed the change into his pocket.
There, said he, thatll show you! Im a queer man, and strange wi strangers; but my word is my bond, and theres the proof of it.