Falconer was a strict
enforcer of all social rules. Scarcely less unnecessary were the
directions she gave as to the conduct of Betty, who received them
all in erect submission, with her hands under her apron. She ought
to have been a young girl instead of an elderly woman, if there was
any propriety in the way her mistress spoke to her. It proved at
least her own belief in the description she had given of her to Miss
Lammie.
'Noo, Betty, ye maun be dooce. An' dinna stan' at the door i' the
gloamin'. An' dinna stan' claikin' an' jawin' wi' the ither lasses
whan ye gang to the wall for watter. An' whan ye gang intil a chop,
dinna hae them sayin' ahint yer back, as sune's yer oot again,
"She's her ain mistress by way o'," or sic like. An' min' ye hae
worship wi' yersel', whan I'm nae here to hae 't wi' ye. Ye can
come benn to the parlour gin ye like. An' there's my muckle
Testament. And dinna gie the lads a' thing they want. Gie them
plenty to ait, but no ower muckle. Fowk suld aye lea' aff wi' an
eppiteet.'
Mr. Lammie brought his gig at last, and took grannie away to
Bodyfauld. When the boys returned from school at the dinner-hour,
it was to exult in a freedom which Robert had never imagined before.
But even he could not know what a relief it was to Shargar to eat
without the awfully calm eyes of Mrs. Falconer watching, as it
seemed to him, the progress of every mouthful down that capacious
throat of his.
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