"I didna think I was to be made a convenience o'. I lookit to do my day's
wark, and sae earn my day's wage."
"Did Davie promise you siller at a'?"
"I'll no say he did; there wasna any promise fully made; but I thocht o'
it."
"How much was you thinking o'? What sum will pay you to stand by my gude
name, and say for me the right word when you hear the wrang one? For you
ken, aunt, I'll ne'er deserve the wrang one."
"Wad five shillings weekly be o'er much?"
"Ay, it's a deal. But I'll gie it to you. And you can knit your ain
stocking, and go and come as it likes you; and I'll mind my ain hame, and
I'll pay you the siller every Saturday night."
"I dinna like the talk o' siller sae near the Sawbath day. We'll hae the
settlement on Saturday at noon."
"Vera weel. We willna differ about an hour or twa."
"I didna sleep gude last night. A box bed isna quite the thing for an auld
woman like me."
Maggie hesitated. Her own little room was very dear to her. It gave her a
measure of privacy, and all her small treasures had their place in it. The
concealed, or box bed, in the house place wall, had been David's sleeping
place. It was warm and thoroughly comfortable; it was the usual, and
favorite bed of all people of Janet Caird's class. Maggie wondered at her
objection; especially as her own room was exposed to the north wind, and
much colder than the house place. She based her opposition on this
ground-"You can hae my room if it please you better, Aunt Janet; but it is a gey
cold one in the winter; and there isna ony way to make it warmer."
"Tuts, lassie! What for wad I want your bit room, when there is my
brither's room empty noo?"
She rose as she spoke, and opened the door of the apartment which Allan
had so long occupied. "It's a nice room, this is; a gude fire-place and an
open bed, and you can pack awa a' those books and pictur's--they dinna
look like vera improving ones--and I'll put my kist i' that corner, and
just mak' mysel' quite comfortable."
"But you canna hae this room, Aunt Janet. Neither I, nor you, hae the
right to put oor foot inside it. It is rented, and the rent paid doon; and
the books and pictures canna be meddled wi'; there mustna be a finger laid
on them."