"'Deed, ma'am, I think I can. I was wi' Miss Jean Anderson o' Largo for
twa years. She'll say the gude word for me, every way."
"I shall want you to be part of the day in the salesroom; but I will
provide you a suitable dress for that purpose; and I will give you ten
shillings a week, at first. Will that do?"
"It will do weel, ma'am."
"What is your name?"
"Maggie Promoter."
"Come to-morrow, Miss Promoter."
"Folks aye call me Maggie."
"Very well. Come to-morrow, Maggie."
The dress provided by Mrs. Lauder was a long, plain, black merino, tightly
fitting, with small turned back linen cuffs and collar; and Maggie looked
exceedingly handsome and stately in it. Her work was not hard, but the
hours were long, and there was no outlook. She could not lift her head and
catch from the sea the feeling of limitless space and freedom. Still she
was happy. It was better to live among strangers who always gave her the
civil word, than to be with kin who used the freedom of their relationship
only to wound and annoy her. And her little room was always a sanctuary in
which she found strength and peace. Also, the Sabbath was all her own; and
her place in the kirk to which she regularly went was generally filled an
hour before service bells. That kirk was a good place to Maggie. She was
one of those delightsome women, who in this faithless age, have a fervent
and beautiful faith in God. Into His temple she took no earthly thought,
but kept her heart, there, "one silent space,
A little sacred spot of loneliness.
Where to set up the memory of His cross,
A little quiet garden, sacred still
To visions of His sorrow, and His love"
So the weeks went calmly, and not unpleasantly away. Now and then she had
a restless heartache about David; and three times she walked all the way
to the Barony kirk, where she knew he worshiped, to get a sight of her
brother. She did not fear to do so. David Promoter, on Sabbath days,
looked neither to the right hand nor to the left. In the kirk his pale
grave face was bent toward his Bible, or lifted to the preacher. Maggie
could have sat within the touch of his hand and he would not have seen
her. But she got no comfort from these visits to David's kirk, and she
missed all the comfort of her own kirk. So she finally said to herself--
"I'll tak' my ain road, and I'll ne'er look his road, and when it will be
the right time, the twa roads will meet again."
As the summer advanced there was less work to do, and she frequently was
at home in sufficient time to stroll along Kelvin side, or visit the
Botanic Gardens. Inland scenery, trees, and, above all things, flowers,
greatly delighted her. It gave her a thrill of exquisite pleasure to tread
among long, green grass, and feel the wavering sunshine and shadows of the
woods about her; and in the midsummer month, when she was to have a short
holiday, she promised herself many days of such pure and natural enjoyment.