don't like
being ill-used"; and Jeremiah looked wistfully at the ploughmen.
"Div ye mean tae say," as soon as Mains had recovered, "that ye've
brocht naethin' for the manse but bukes, naither bed nor bedding?
Keep's a'," as the situation grew upon him, "whar are ye tae sleep, and
what are ye tae sit on? An' div ye never eat? This croons a';" and Mains
gazed at his new minister as one who supposed that he had taken
Jeremiah's measure and had failed utterly.
"Mea culpa--it's . . . my blame," and Saunderson was evidently
humbled at this public exposure of his incapacity; "some slight
furnishing will be expedient, even necessary, and I have a plan for
book-shelves in my head; it is ingenious and convenient, and if there is
a worker in wood . . ."
"Come awa' tae the dog-cart, sir," said Mains, realizing that even
Kilbogie did not know what a singular gift they had obtained, and that
discussion on such sublunary matters as pots and pans was useless, not
to say profane. So eight carts got a box each; one, Jeremiah's ancient
kist of moderate dimensions; and the tenth--that none might be left
unrecognised--a hand-bag that had been on the twelve years' probation
with its master. The story grew as it passed westwards, and when it
reached us we were given to understand that the Free Kirk minister of
Kilbogie had come to his parish with his clothing in a paper parcel and
twenty-four packing-cases filled with books, in as many
languages--half of them dating from the introduction of printing, and
fastened by silver clasps--and that if Drumtochty seriously desired to
hear an intellectual sermon at a time, we must take our way through
Tochty woods.
Mrs. Pitillo took the minister into her hands, and compelled him to
accompany her to Muirtown, where she had him at her will for some
time, so that she equipped the kitchen (fully), a dining-room (fairly), a
spare bedroom (amply), Mr. Saunderson's own bedroom (miserably),
and secured a table and two chairs for the study. This success turned
her head. Full of motherly forethought, and having a keen
remembrance that probationers always retired in the afternoon at Mains
to think over the evening's address, and left an impress of the human
form on the bed when they came down to tea, Mrs. Pitillo suggested
that a sofa would be an admirable addition to the study. As soon as this
piece of furniture, of a size suitable for his six feet, was pointed out to
the minister, he took fright, and became quite unmanageable. He would
not have such an article in his study on any account, partly because it
would only feed a tendency to sloth--which, he explained, was one of
his besetting sins--and partly because it would curtail the space
available for books, which, he indicated, were the proper furniture of
any room, but chiefly of a study. So great was his alarm, that he
repented of too early concessions about the other rooms, and explained
to Mrs. Pitillo that every inch of space must be rigidly kept for the
overflow from the study, which he expected--if he were spared--would
reach the garrets. Several times on their way back to Kilbogie,
Saunderson looked wistfully at Mrs. Pitillo, and once opened his mouth
as if to speak, from which she gathered that he was grateful for her
kindness, but dared not yield any further to the luxuries of the flesh.
What this worthy woman endured in securing a succession of reliable
house-keepers for Mr. Saunderson and over-seeing the interior of that
remarkable home she was never able to explain to her own satisfaction,
though she made many honest efforts, and one of her last intelligible
utterances was a lamentable prophecy of the final estate of the Free
Church manse of Kilbogie. Mr. Saunderson himself seemed at times to
have some vague idea of her painful services, and once mentioned her
name to Carmichael of Drumtochty in feeling terms. There had been
some delay in providing for the bodily wants of the visitor after his
eight miles' walk from the glen, and it seemed likely that he would be
obliged to take his meal standing for want of a chair.
"While Mrs. Pitillo lived, I have a strong impression, almost amounting
to certainty, that the domestic arrangements of the manse were better
ordered; she had the episcopal faculty in quite a conspicuous degree,
and was, I have often thought, a woman of sound judgment.
"We were not able at all times to see eye to eye, as she had an
unfortunate tendency to meddle with my books and papers, and to
arrange them after an artificial fashion. This she called tidying, and, in
its most extreme form, cleaning.
"With all her excellences, there
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